Serendipity
by Real.Smile
Summary: You are my serendipity. I wasn't looking for you, I wasn't expecting you. But I'm lucky I found you.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N** : Hello! I'm really excited to join this fandom. I watched the anime on Netflix last month and have been obsessed since then. Needless to say, that is story will be based off the anime and not the manga. However, I have been reading the manga and have done a fair amount of research, so I hope that everything is okay. Also, I've been looking over how to use the Japanese honorifics and I think that I have them pretty figured out, however if I slip up PLEASE let me know and I will change it as soon as I can. I am not above admitting my mistakes and accepting help, I am human after all. :) So yeah, with that said I hope you all enjoy this story. I'm trying my hand at a slow burn fic again; I haven't been too successful with those in the past, so I'm gonna try again. Okay, Seriously, done talking now. Enjoy!

 **DISCLAIMER** : I'm not making any money off this fic and I only own my original characters.

* * *

It was odd, that at such a prestigious academy quiet places to study were few and far between. However, that seemed to be the case at Ouran Academy. The school had not one but four libraries and all of them were buzzing with conversation. Not that any of the students were shouting across the room or anything obscene like that. However, weren't libraries supposed to be quiet places? But after attending Ouran Academy for as long as she had, she should have known that finding a quiet space would be harder than necessary.

After closing the door to Library number four, she set out in search of a quieter location to start her studies in. Honey brown eyes scanned the halls, peeking in doors to see if there were any vacant classrooms or if there was an unoccupied bench that she could take residence upon. After failing to locate a spot inside, she decided to move outside.

Finally, she found a vacant area near the fountain and took advantage of it. Sitting down on the first bench she found and tugging her textbook from her bag. While school had only started two weeks prior, she was determined to stay ahead of the curve and the rest of the class. She was dead set on keeping her position, or better yet improving it, as third in the 3A class. At the end of the previous school term, she had been trailing closely behind the student holding the second position, while they were both falling far behind the student holding the position at the top of the class.

Her honey-brown eyes scanned back and forth across the words on the page as her right hand worked to copy down the equations and work them out in the notebook that she'd placed on her lap. Unconsciously, she allowed her canine teeth to bite down on her bottom lip as her eyebrows lowered in concentration.

"I've been looking everywhere for you!"

Reluctantly, her honey brown eyes left the textbook and her hand stopped its motion across the page. Standing before her was a petite brunette with dark brown eyes and a bright smile. Her cheeks were flushed and she seemed out of breath as she placed her hands on her hips and stared down at the girl with the textbook.

"Ami?" the honey eyed girl questioned as she moved to shut the textbook on her pencil, knowing that whatever work she might have gotten done before her friend appeared was most certainly not going to happen at this point.

"I've looked everywhere for you!" she restated.

"Why?"

Ami looked down at her friend with a smirk on her lips. "You are going to the Host Club." To that the honey eyed girl scoffed and opened her book again. "Matsuri." Ami reached down and flipped the cover shut. "This is your last year here!" the brunette exclaimed. "You have to come."

"I don't have to do anything," the girl by the name of Matsuri replied.

Ami looked at her blankly, before frowning. "But, you have to come!" When Matsuri didn't respond, she continued. "Tamaki-kun invited the entire class today!"

That he had. He'd barged into the classroom, demanding the attention of the ladies in the room, which he received with no qustion, and announced that the Host Club was having an open even of sorts and that everyone was invited. Of course, all of the girls swooned at the mention of going to the Host Club, most of the making plans right then and there with who they wanted to meet with.

"Well, I guess that they are very busy and do not need me to come."

"Just go, Matsuri."

"No."

Ami's eyes grew larger as they began to water. "Please!" Matsuri shook her head. "Please! It'll only be a little while. Thirty minutes and you never have to go back again!" Matsuri remained motionless. "Twenty? Fifteen?" The tone of Ami's voice was turning more and more desperate Sure, she could go to the Host Club, she was a regular guest choosing to spend her time with Souh Tamaki. However, Kinjo Matsuri had never attended the Host Club. In the whole three years of its existence and success, she had never gone. And for Ami that was a problem.

In response, Matsuri opened her textbook and retrieved her pencil, before closing it again. She then dropped the book and the notebook into her bag Wordlessly, she stood and hoisted the bag on to her shoulder, turning from her friend. She turned her attention towards the castle-esque building that they called Ouran Academy and huffed.

"Fifteen minutes, Ami," Matsuri agreed as she started to walk towards the school.

The petite brunette clapped her hands excitedly as she followed her friend into the building. She began blabbing about how excited she was about the fact that she was _finally_ , putting extreme emphasis on the word, going to visit the Host Club even if it was three years too late.

"Wait!" Ami exclaimed loudly.

Matsuri turned and looked at the girl with her honey colored eyes. "What now?"

Ami reached up and started to brush stands of Matsuri's raven toned hair down and into place. The wind must have blown her hair out of place when she was outside. Grateful, she gave the girl a soft smile. She reached up and ran her fingers through her long raven hair, catching a few tangles on the way.

"Okay," Ami said with bright smile.

* * *

"Welcome, Princesses!"

Kinjo Matsuri would recognize that voice anywhere. Souh Tamaki pulled himself away from the group of girls he was speaking with to bring his attention to the girls that had entered the room. Ami immediately started to brush her hands over the front of her yellow dress and fluff her short brown hair as the slim blond man approached them.

"Tamaki-kun," Ami giggled as he took her hand in his and kissed the back of it. Matsuri had never seen Ami's face turn that red, in fact she was almost certain that it wasn't healthy for her face to be that color.

"My dear Princess," he continued as he pulled her closer to him. "Are you here to grace me with your presence?" Unable to speak, Ami nodded. "Well, my…" His voice trailed off as he either finally realized that Matsuri was standing there or finally realized who she was. "My dear, Matsuri-san!" he exclaimed, still holding Ami close to him as he reached over and kissed the back of her hand as well. "You have finally come!"

A little flustered by Tamaki being, well, Tamaki she could only nod.

"Please, my dear," he returned his attention to Ami. "Please take a seat," he told her as he gestured to the area where he had been sitting. "I'll be there shortly."

Ami cast a glance at her friend, who waved her away.

"Well, Ms. Kinjo," Tamaki said as he glanced at her with a soft smile on his lips. "Who would you like to see?"

Matsuri glanced around the room. To her left there were the Hitachiin twins of class 2A. One of the twins, she wasn't exactly sure which was which, was holding the other's face in his hand, while the other looked up into his eyes. From her distance, she was unable to hear what was said, however she did see that the twin whose face was being held blush deeply. The girls sitting around them swooned. To the right of the twins was Fujioka Haruhi. He was sitting on a sofa sipping on his tea and conversing with the girls around him. He would smile gently, tipping his head on to the side, and say something that would make the girls laugh and blush. Standing with his back pressed against the wall in in the back of the room was Ootori Kyoya. The light reflected off of his glasses hiding his eyes from the customers as he scribbled away in the notebook he was holding.

"Um," she replied unsure of what she wanted to do. In all honesty, she had no desire to be here. "I don't know." The twins seemed to be doing a lot, they were very out there, and Fujioka Haruhi seemed busy. Tamaki was to grand for her, so that only left, "Ootori-san, that is if he isn't too busy."

Tamaki laughed and took her hand as he guided her across the room. "Kyoya is not too busy to host," he informed. "Isn't that right, Kyoya?"

As he looked up from the notepad in his hand, the light glinted off his glasses and he pushed them up higher with his middle finger. "What was that, Tamaki?" he responded.

"You've been requested," the blond told his friend as he pulled Matsuri in front of him. "By Kinjo-san."

"Well, Kinjo-san," Kyoya said coolly as a smile found his lips. He tucked the notepad under his arm and held a hand out to Matsuri. "It will be a pleasure to host you."

The hafu placed her small hand into Kyoya's larger hand. "See," he whispered into her ear as he handed her off, "he's not too busy too host at all." A soft blush crept across her cheeks from Souh's closeness. "I leave her in your capable hands, Kyoya."

His large hand closed around hers, dwarfing it. "She will be well taken care of, Tamaki."

With that Tamaki took his leave and made his way back to the sofa that he had been sitting at. The ladies that had been waiting, Ami included, watched with excitement as he took his seat and apologized as they started announcing how much they missed him, saying that they missed him more than the one that had spoken previously.

"Kinjo-san, have a seat, won't you?" he questioned as he gave her hand a soft squeeze, drawing her attention back to him and his smile. She nodded and he guided her to a small table with two seats where his laptop was sitting. Matsuri sat down in the chair that he'd pulled out for her, muttering a quiet thank you. "Would you like some rose flavored tea or coffee?" Kyoya questioned.

"Rose flavored tea?" the raven hair girl echoed slowly.

A smirk crossed his lips a he left the table where she was seated. She took this time to watch the Hosts more. Again, the twins were sitting closely, holding one another and still talking too quietly for her too hear. Haruhi was laughing at something that one of the girls had said. His laugh had a light ring to it, lacking the bass of the other boys. Then there was Tamaki, drawing the girls close to him and speaking quietly to them causing them to blush dramatically.

"Kinjo-san," Kyoya's voice said as he placed a cup of tea in front of her and took his seat across from her. "It's fairly sweet, I must warn you."

"Thank you," she replied as she picked up the small white and green tea cup in front of her. Gently, she brought the cup to her lips and took a sip. He was right. It was sweet, but it was good.

Ootori Kyoya watched her from behind his lenses. Kinjo Matsuri, third year student, classification A, and third in their class. Daughter to Kinjo Hayate and sole heiress to Kinjo Technology, a company six generations old. Member of Ouran academy Tennis team, and from what he could tell from her student records – he'd pulled them up when he saw her walk into the room with Ami – she was rather competent at the sport she played.

"Is it to your liking?" he questioned.

"Yes. Thank you," she answered, placing the cup back down.

Ootori Kyoya and Kinjo Matsuri had been in class since their start at Ouran Academy in the elementary grades. However, their paths had never truly crossed. There had been the occasional exchange of pleasantries in the classroom. Occasionally, she would see him with his father at Galas and speak to him briefly. However, that was essentially the extent of their conversations over many years.

"Yen for your thoughts, Kinjo-san?" Kyoya's voice questioned.

"Oh, no," she replied as she crossed her legs under her yellow dress. "Sorry, I fear that I am wasting your time, Ootori-san."

"Oh?"

"You seemed quite busy when I requested you. If you need to go back to," she paused, "whatever you were doing, I won't mind."

Kyoya tilted is head to the side and watched her. She looked mildly uncomfortable. Her lip had found its way between her teeth and her honey toned eyes wouldn't settle on just one thing, nervously flickering from one space to another. When she glanced over at him, she blushed.

"I was just looking over the finances for the club," he told her. "It's nothing that can't wait until after conversation with a beautiful lady like yourself."

Matsuri attempted to get a look at his eyes, but the light in the room continued to glint off of his lenses. There was a pleasant smile on his lips, however she was sure that it didn't quite reach his eyes. Like he was just going through the motions of hosting.

"Ootori-san, tell me, do you prefer not to host?" she questioned as her small hand wrapped around the cup of rose flavored tea. She looked down at the light liquid, but not before seeing Kyoya look up. She could almost see his eyes – a surprised expression crossing through them? – but the lenses caught the light before she could fully see the expression.

"What makes you say that?"

Matsuri opened her mouth to speak, but closed it before she said anything. This was her first time at a Host Club function. Who was she question if he preferred to host or not? He could be a very popular Host here and today he could have chosen to stand in the background and observe. "I apologize," she told him with a gentle bow of her head.

Kyoya watched her. She was perceptive. Of course, he shouldn't have expected anything different from the person that was third, and very close to being second, in their class.

"Tell me, Kinjo-san," Kyoya said, taking the curious tone that she'd had moments ago. "What brought you to our club today?"

Without hesitation, she gestured to Ito Ami, who was all but curled up in Tamaki's lap as he gazed into her eyes. "I was trying to do some work for class, but she found me and insisted that I come," she replied honestly.

"I see," he replied. "What class?"

"Excuse me?"

"What class were you working on?" he questioned as a smirk crossed over his lips.

"Oh, physics," she replied.

Kyoya was quiet for a moment. "You and I share that elective course this term, do we not?"

"We do."

"I see," he mused. "Trying to stay ahead of the course?"

Matsuri made a noncommittal noise. "The tennis team starts practicing for the season in a few weeks, and then holding tryouts for the team a few weeks after that, so I'm trying to get into the flow of things before the team starts to practice."

"Ah, that's right. You are a member of the tennis team," he said as if just now remembering that fact. However, she could tell that that was not the case.

"I am serving as captain this year," she informed.

"Oh? It seems that congratulations are in order, Kinjo-san."

Again, she made the noncommittal noise before bring the cup to her lips, finding that the tea was still warm. "Thank you, Ootori-san."

Kyoya nodded in acceptance of the thank you for his congratulations. His eyes then flickered up towards the clock in the room and then moved to shut his laptop. "It seems that it is time for the Host Club to close," he told her as he glanced at her again.

"Yes, I suppose so," she replied as she watched Ami reluctantly tear herself away from Tamaki and start over towards Matsuri. "Ootori-san," she started quietly.

"Yes?"

"Thank you for hosting me today," she told him. "I hope that you are able to get the finances of the Club in order and I did not serve as too much of a distraction."

A smirk played across his lips as he stood from the chair he was sitting in when she stood. He then produced a lavender rose from the breast pocket on his blazer and offered it to her. "Kinjo-san, you mustn't think that you were an unwelcome distraction. You are always welcome here."

A bright blush crossed her cheeks as she plucked the rose from his fingers. "Thank you, Ootori-san." From the corner of her eye, she could see Ami lingering at an awkward distance. "I must take my leave. Thank you again for hosting me."

And with that she turned and left the room with Ito Ami.

* * *

 **A/N #2:** Hi again! Let me know what you think with a review! I read that school starts in April in Japan so this starts in mid-April during the year after the anime is set.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thanks for all of your reviews! I love seeing them pop up next to the story name and reading them. I hope you enjoy chapter two! I might go back later and start naming them, but I'm really bad at naming chapters so probably not. (:

 **DISCLAIMER:** I am not making any money off of this fic.

* * *

"Matsuri!"

The raven haired girl closed her locker a little harder than she meant to in response to being startled by the sound of her name being shouted across the hall. She knew exactly who the voice belonged to, but she wasn't all that prepared to speak with her at this hour of the day. It was still fairly early; she'd only arrived at the school five minutes ago.

"Ami?" she questioned as she adjusted the notebook and textbook she had in her arms. She wasn't one for carrying her bag around all day, it got heavy after a while, so she stored it away in her locker and opted to carry her books in her arms and go back to her locker between classes.

"Are you coming back today?" she questioned as they started walking down the hall.

"Coming back too?" Matsuri questioned in an attempt to play dumb.

To the Host Club, that's where. Ami was asking if she was going to return to the Host Club in the afternoon. When they were leaving the Club the day before, Ami had begged for her to tell every detail of the conversation that she had had with Ootori Kyoya. When Matsuri didn't respond to her, she'd huffed and decided that she would tell her about her time with Tamaki instead. Matsuri only half listened as they walked down the halls twirling the lavender rose between her fingers.

"The Host Club." Matsuri made that noncommittal noise again. "You should come today," Ami exclaimed. "You enjoyed yourself, didn't you?" Again, Matsuri made that sound. "Ootori-san doesn't get requested all that often. It's nice to see him talking to someone."

Ami left it at that as they walked into their history classroom. The sensei was already in the room scrawling dates on the board. This was where she and Ami split ways. It was very rare that they sat together in class. Ami had a strong desire to sit in the back of the room on near a window, while Matsuri sat in the middle of the third row in every class that she took.

Matsuri settled in to the seat and flipped her notebook open to the first open page and scrawled the date in the top right hand corner of the page. She brushed her hair from her face and behind her shoulder as the class started to fill.

"Kinjo-san."

"Ootori-san."

He was towering over her and glancing down at her. The raven haired girl looked up at him and when her honey brown eyes met his grey ones, the corners of his mouth upturned slightly.

"How are you?" he questioned.

"Well, and yourself?"

"The same."

The boy then moved away from her desk, taking his seat in the row in front of her and to her left diagonal. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again. What was she going to say? Thank you for the rose… Instead, she remained silent and watched him from the corner of her eye as he prepared for class.

"Princess!"

Both she and Kyoya looked up at the sound of that very familiar voice. Normally, she wouldn't have even bothered to acknowledge that term coming from the voice in question. The only reason she did so this time was due to the closeness of the call. He was standing between the two of them, beaming down at her as he took her hand and kissed it. All in true Souh Tamaki fashion.

"Souh-san," she responded calmly as she placed her hand back on the table when he released it.

"Non, mon ami," Tamaki exclaimed with large violet eyes, looking quite offended. "Tamaki, please." Matsuri nodded in acknowledgment of this request. "We enjoyed having you at the Host Club," he told her as he leaned over and touched Kyoya's shoulder. "You must come again soon. Right, Kyoya?"

The raven haired boy turned to look at the two third years, his glasses catching the light. However, when his gaze settled on her, she could see his steely grey eyes. "Quite, Tamaki."

Again, Matsuri opened her mouth to speak, but said nothing. She wasn't quite sure how to respond to them. While she would not admit it aloud, she did enjoy her time at the Host Club the day before. It had certainly been an upgrade in entertainment from her Physics textbook, however, she wasn't really sure. Carefully, she mulled over the options. She could go to the Host Club and have conversation with the Hosts or she could go to the tennis courts on the grounds, like she had planned to do, and get some practice in before the practice season started.

"Tamaki-san, I fear that I may have to decline your request for my presence at the Host Club's functions today."

Behind her several girls gasped in shock, her dear friend Ami included, as if she had revealed some sort of deep secret. When she glanced over her shoulder she saw that they had their hands over their mouths and were watching the exchange with wide eyes. One girl mumbled that she could believe that she had turned him down. Matsuri sighed deeply, and turned back to face Tamaki.

"I was hoping to practice on the tennis courts this afternoon. However, I thank you for the offer, Tamaki-san."

He watched her for a moment, before nodding with a smile. "Well, you must come visit us again," he told her as he moved away from her and towards his seat on the other side of Kyoya, who was still watching her from the corner of his eyes.

He didn't say anything to her, but she saw the corners of his lips turn upwards before he turned to the front of the classroom when the sensei started to speak.

Matsuri ducked her head briefly to cover a blush that was slowly but surely creeping across her face. She then looked up to the sensei with the corners of her lips upturned as well.

* * *

"Senpai!"

The raven haired girl chased the yellow tennis ball, that had been shot from the machine, over to the left side of the dark green tennis court and lobbed the ball over the net easily. When the machine fired again, she moved to the opposite side of the court, meeting the ball with a smooth backhand, before taking off to meet the next ball, on the other side of the court, with her forehand.

"What?" she panted as she sent another ball flying over the net. She spared a glance at the person calling out to her as she shifted the sides of the court again. It was a young girl, a first year, with light brown hair. Her racket collided with another ball as she tried to remember the girls name. Muso. She sent another ball flying over the net. Tomoka. Muso Tomoka. The young girl had approached her during the first week of school and asked if she would help her with her serve. Matsuri had agreed.

"I'm here for my lesson, Kinjo-Senpai," the girl voiced over the solid popping sound of Matsuri sending the ball over the net.

The older girl stopped moving and relaxed off the balls of her feet. When the machine fired again, she took her racket and popped the ball down on to her side of the court. She repeated the action again with the next fired ball. "Turn the machine off," Matsuri called as she knocked another ball from the air.

The young girl ran over to flip the switch on the machine. Matsuri watched as the girl then bounded to the side of the court where she had been standing, holding a bottle of water and offering it to her. "Senpai."

"Thank you," Matsuri replied as she took the bottle from the girl and twisted the top off. The water was cold something she greatly appreciated. While it wasn't hot, she had been out here working for at least an hour, and she was parched. She made her way toward her duffle bag on the bench and grabbed the hand towel sitting on top of it and ran it over her face. When she looked down, she saw that it was wet with more sweat than she had expected. Had she honestly been that sweaty?

"Okay, Muso-san," she replied after a moment. "Let's see what you've been working on," Matsuri said.

The young girl nodded and took her stance with her racquet in hand. Matsuri pushed the younger girl's feet further apart with her own racquet. Tomoka's stance was always to narrow. She adjusted accordingly and took the ball that was in her Senpai's hand. Matsuri stepped back and circled the younger girl as she moved into her serve, making note of what needed to be improved.

Overall, it was better.

"How was that?" the young girl questioned.

Matsuri flipped a ball up on to the face of her racquet and then handed it to the young girl. "Again?" The girl with the light brown hair nodded and repeated the motion again. "Okay. One, your stance is way too narrow. I won't be here to move your feet if you make the team. You have to take a wider stance," Matsuri took her own stance. "See how my feet are at shoulder width? Front foot angled diagonally across the court and directly against the base line, back foot shoulder width behind and parallel with the baseline." The first year mimicked her actions. "Good. Secondly, your ball toss is a little too high. Bring it down, a lot. If it's too high, then the rest of the serve is off."

"Right, Senpai."

"Try the serve again."

* * *

"Alright," Matsuri said quietly. "Let's call it a night, shall we?"

Muso Tomoka nodded and wiped her brow with the back of her arm. She made her way to the bench and took a sip of her water, before starting to pick up the balls that were strewn about the court.

Matsuri watched the young girl with a soft smile. She remembered those days. When she was a first year, she too had to find an older student to help her with her technique. While she was a member of the tennis club in her junior high years, the tennis team was much more competitive and if she had a desire to make the team she needed to asked the best player. Practice time was always late, after the Senpai had time to practice and it was generally only for a short amount of time, a half an hour or so. Afterwards, she would collect the balls.

"Kinjo-Senpai?"

"Yes?" Matsuri replied as she brought her attention back to the girl on the court.

"I hope that I am not crossing any lines by asking this question," the young girl started slowly. Matsuri shrugged, a sign for the girl to continue. "Have you ever been to the Host Club?"

To that Matsuri laughed as she moved to pick up her duffle bag and shoulder it. "Actually, I went for the first time yesterday," she confessed.

"Oh?" When Matsuri looked down she saw that the girl was blushing as she fell into step with her. "I was wondering what it's like."

Matsuri was quiet as she and the girl walked away from the tennis courts. "I'm not sure that I am the right person to ask. Like I said, I've only been once." From the corner of her eye, she could see the girl frowning. "If you're interested, you should go and see them. They are kind gentleman."

The girl stopped walking and so did Matsuri. "I will. Thank you, Senpai!"

"Of course."

"I must go," Tomoka said as she glanced down at her watch. "My driver is here. Have a good evening, Senpai." She gave a small bow before she raced down the hall and out to the front of the school.

Matsuri pulled her phone from the front pocket of her bag and sent a text to her driver letting her know that she was ready to leave. She didn't bother to wait for a response as she walked down the now empty halls of Ouran.

She liked how peaceful the school was at this hour. Seeing as everyone had gone home, it was completely quiet. As she made her way towards her locker, she could hear her footsteps echoing off the walls. The silence was nice. Ouran was always so loud and active. So the silence was a change in scenery.

When she reached her locker, she opened it quickly and retrieved her school bag from its depths. She then pushed the locker door shut and started back towards the front of the school, listening to the sounds of her footsteps echoing down the hall and then fading into silence.

* * *

 **A/N #2:**. Please leave a review and let me know what you think about the story so far. I'd love to hear from you all. Also, like I said, if I messed up on any of the honorifics, please let me know and I will change it ASAP. Also if you catch any spelling errors, let me know.

~ Nikki


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N** : Hello! Thanks for all the follows and favorites! I hope you all are enjoying the story so far. I know the previous chapter was lacking with Matsuri and Kyoya interaction, however, this one should make up for it. Like I said, slow burn. I've written a few chapters ahead, I'm in eight right now and soon to be starting nine, so I promise there's exciting things to come.

 **DISCLAIMER** : I'm not making any off of this fic.

* * *

The following weeks had indeed gotten busy and hectic, just as she had expected. Not only were things with the team busy. Tryouts had started and there were more people than she had anticipated. Some were great, while others she wondered why they were even trying out. However, the majority of the people trying out sat at about average. Things with school were also starting to pick up and the competition for the second position in the class standing was firmly underway. With every test, Matsuri inched closer to her competition, to only have herself outdone once again. The whole thing was fairly exhausting. And then there was her life at home, where her father was starting to put the finishing touches on the May Gala. Her father, Kinjo Hayate, was always excited to host the gala for Kinjo Technologies. Each year at the Gala, he would introduce some new gadget that would be on the market in the following months.

"Suri-chan," her father greeted from his place in the dining room as she entered for breakfast.

"Good morning, Father," she greeted as she took a seat at the table in front of the plate with a Tamagoyaki on it. She watched her father from the corner of her eye as she began to eat. He was looking over a list of names, scratching some off, and circling others. "Are those the invitations for the gala?" she questioned.

"Yes, they are. I have started to receive RSVPs from some of the guests, so I am scratching them off."

"And the circled ones?"

Her father sighed, deeply. "They are the ones that I am still waiting for an RSVP from, the ones that I would really like to be in attendance. There are still four more people that I wish to be in attendance that have still not responded."

"I'm sure they will respond positively," she encouraged.

Kinjo Hayate was silent for a moment as he continued marking away at the list. "How are tryouts for the team going?"

She looked up with a hint of surprise in her eyes. While her father cared for her deeply, he was a busy man with a lot on his plate, she had not expected him to remember that she had tryouts for her tennis team during all of the planning he was doing for the Gala. "They're fine. Tomorrow is the last day and then I will sit down with the advisor of the team to make decisions. Results will be posted on Friday."

"Just know that it is not an easy process, selected team members from your peers," he informed. "Choose wisely, my dear."

"Thank you, Father."

They sat in silence for a while as he worked and she ate. In her mind, she was working over what all she needed to do over the course of the day. There was no official try out after school today. The reason being so that the students could have the court to themselves to practice their technique and work on the corrections she and the sensei had pointed out to them over the past week. That left her afternoon free to get some studying in and some reading done. She wasn't falling behind, or anything of the sort, but if she wanted to pass Dio Sakura, the person second in class, she needed to get to it.

When she glanced at the clock her eyes widened.

"Oh, no!" she pushed away from the table suddenly and darted out of the room. "I'll be late! Have a good day, Father," she called before she closed the front door behind her.

* * *

The school day had gone off without a hitch. She'd ended up not being late to school, a great surprise to her. In fact, Ami was getting out of her limo when she had pulled up, which was not a particularly comforting sign.

It seemed like the day flew by and before she knew it the final bell of the day was ringing and the students were packing up their bags. Matsuri made her way to her locker, mulling over all of the assignments she had to do and trying to prioritize them in a way that allowed her to get the assignments with the closest due date finished while also working on the ones that would require a little effort.

By the time she reached her locker, most of the students were out of the halls. She opened her locker and when she did something fluttered out. The raven haired girl leaned down to pick it up. In her fingers was a battered looking lavender rose. She twisted the rose between her fingers watching the bruised leaves turn. The rose wobbled a little on the stem and she realized that even the stem was broken. Hesitantly, she placed the rose back into her locker and picked her bag from the locker. Before closing her it, she cast another glance at the flower.

A quick stop in wouldn't hurt would it?

* * *

"Princess, ahoy!"

Immediately she regretted her decision to enter Music Room #3. While an audible sigh, she took in the sight before her. This must have been one of those cosplay days in the Host Club, Ami had said something about. All of the Hosts were dressed as pirates. Tamaki was clearly the captain, dressed in a white flowing shirt covered by a black jacket. A black belt was around at his waist hold a holster where he was keeping his sword. On the top of his head was a tricorn hat. The twins were dressed in matching white shirts that were open and brown vest and red scarves wrapped around their heads. Their legs were covered in tight brown pants and calf high boots. Fujioka Haruhi was dressed in a loose white satin shirt that was tucked into a pair of black pants and an eye patch over his left eye. Around his head was a red scarf, just like the twins. And Ootori Kyoya was dressed in a long black leather coat with intricate gold embroidery along the edges of the coat. The black vest he wore under the coat also held the gold embroidery on it. From the deep v of the fest, she saw that was not wearing a shirt under the vest. He was sitting at the table that he had hosted her at a fortnight ago. Had it been that long since she'd ventured into Music Room #3?

Kyoya looked up from the computer and towards the door, the corners of his lips upturning slightly. Wordlessly, he closed his laptop and motioned for her to come to where he was sitting. She folded her hands behind her back as she started towards the pirate dressed in all black.

"Kinjo-san," he greeted with a bright smile, the one that she was sure didn't qute reach his eyes, when she was in earshot. "You've returned."

"That I have, Ootori-san," she agreed as she sat at the table across from him.

"Tea?" he questioned as he brought his grey eyes up to her honey brown ones. Matsuri shook her head, and Kyoya leaned back into the chair. "How are the tryouts going?" he asked.

In response, she inhaled deeply and rolled her eyes. "They are stressful," she answered honestly. "Tomorrow is the last day."

"Do you not have practice today?"

"No, the courts are open to practice on today. Tomorrow after school they will play against someone else trying out and then results will be posted on Friday." And if she were being honest with herself, she couldn't wait until they were over.

"You seem quite relieved that the end is nearing," he observed.

Matsuri shrugged. "This is my first term as captain, so I want the team to be its best, but I don't particularly want to hurt anyone's feelings by denying them a place on the team."

"There is no need to concern yourself with feelings in business," Kyoya told her plainly. "Take the people that you feel will benefit the team."

Matsuri tilted her head to the side as he spoke. He made it seem so simple. And to be honest, she was sure that it was exactly that simple. Take the people that benefit the team. But benefit in what way? There are students trying out that don't have a great skill set, but their positive attitudes could bring up team morale. Then there are ones that hold such potential; with a few solo practices they could be a great addition to the team. A few of the students with a high level of talent had cocky attitudes. But was it okay for her to exclude them from the team because of the fact that their attitude was poor? So maybe it wasn't as simple as Kyoya was making it out to be.

"Kinjo-san," he called to her drawing her from her thoughts. "I hope I have not offended you or crossed a line. I apologize if I have."

"No, no, it's not that. You just make it seem so simple," she told him.

Kyoya tilted his head slightly, watching her through his lenses. "At the end of the day, it really is that simple."

With that they lapsed into a silence. Her honey-brown eyes glanced over the room. The other hosts were knee deep in their hosting duties, entertaining the ladies of Ouran Academy. Once again, her eyes fell on Fujioka Haruhi. His brown eyes were twinkling with laughter. When his laughter had subsided, he turned to the girl beside him, probably the one that had elicited the action, and touched her shoulder gently causing the girl to blush lightly. He then said something that caused her to blush even deeper. Bravely, the girl reached over and touch Haruhi's face, cupping his cheek in her hand.

"Say, Ootori-san?" Matsuri started without looking away from Haruhi and the girl. Haruhi drew back from the touch, but seemed to realize himself and placed his hand on her wrist and took her hand in his.

"Hmm?"

Kyoya had taken to writing on his notepad. When she called out to him, he looked up expecting to see her eyes, but did not. He followed her gaze, settling on Haruhi.

"Is Fujioka-san…" Matsuri titlted her head to the side with a curious expression on her face. The way he carried himself and the way he sat... "Is Fujioka-san," she turned to face him, her eyes meeting his grey ones. The intensity of his gaze caught her off guard, but she would not be deterred by this. "Is Fujioka-san a girl?"

Kyoya was quiet for a long moment, his steely grey gaze not leaving her. "Will you stay after club functions have ended?" he questioned coolly as the intensity slowly melted from his eyes.

"Of course."

* * *

 **The Host Club is Closed for Business.**

The closing was promptly at 4:30, the last of the guests finding their way to the door, escorted by the blond haired host. After Kyoya's request, the two of them had fallen into a silence that neither of them seemed willing to break. By the way that he looked at her, she knew that she had stumbled across something that she should not have, and she figured that it was in her best interest to keep her mouth shut. Instead, she'd reached into her bag and pulled a history textbook out, allowing her mind to focus on something other than his request for her to remain in the room after the functions had ended. However, she had been unable to completely remove the thought from her head and spent the next forty-five minutes, re-reading the same two pages over and over again, while Kyoya continued to scribble away in his notebook.

"What's she.."

"Still doing..."

"Here?"

The twins had approached the table where the two third year students were seated. The had removed the red scarves from around their heads and were running their hands through their auburn colored hair and eyeing her.

"Well, since you're.."

"Still here, let's play…"

"the which one is Hikaru game!"

The twins stood shoulder to shoulder in front of her with smiles on their faces. They each draped an arm over the other's shoulder and continued to looked at her expectantly. The two boys were identical, standing in front of her with their bare chests exposed to her from their open front white shirts.

She wasn't quite sure what expression crossed her face, but she could only guess it was one of confusion and surprise. She didn't know them well enough to even attempt to guess which one was which. She didn't really know anything about them aside from the fact that they were second years and that their mother was a famous fashion designer. And now, they wanted her to guess who was who.

"Hikaru, Kaoru, leave her alone."

Fujioka Haruhi had appeared and come to her rescue, like some sort of pirate knight. He flipped the eye patch he was wearing up, revealing his other dark brown eye. He then reached up to pull the scarf off his head.

"Oh, Kinjo-san," Tamaki said as he came to the group. "What are you still doing here?"

Kyoya pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose and turned his attention to the members of the Host Club. "It seems that Kinjo-san is on to Haruhi's secret."

So she had been right. Fujioka Haruhi was a girl.

Haruhi's deep brown eyes widen as she turned her attention to the dark haired girl in the room. "Senpai," she started slowly.

"I won't tell," Matsuri said suddenly, realizing the context of the conversation. "It's not my secret to tell, Fujioka-san."

"How do we know…"

"That you won't tell?"

The twins were now standing on either side of her with a mischievous glint in their eyes. They ach placed a heavy hand on her shoulder and were leaning down to her level. For her peripherals, she could see two identical shadows.

"I believe her," Haruhi said with a soft smile on her lips. "Thank you, Kinjo-Senpai."

Kyoya cast a glance to Haruhi. He was amazed at how trusting she was. She didn't know anything about the girl in front of her except her name and yet she was willing to allow her to carry her secret without some sort of written contract stating the consequences for allowing the secret to get out. However, he did know more about the girl. While he was not familiar with her personally, even though they had been in school together since elementary, he knew her background. He knew that she was a trustworthy and loyal individual.

"I agree with Haruhi," Kyoya said as he glanced at Matsuri from the side of his eyes. "Kinjo-san will keep her secret."

And for a change, there was no threatening tone in his voice, no plotting glint in his eye. It wasn't a statement of she would keep the secret 'or else , it was simply him believing that she would indeed keep the her newfound knowledge to herself.

* * *

 **A/N #2:** Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think with a review or you can PM me. I would love to hear from you all.

~Nikki


	4. Chapter 4

Kinjo Matsuri sighed deeply as she leaned backward against the tall pillar behind her. In her hands was a single sheet of paper, one that she was holding close to her chest. The young girl could easily recite the contents of the page that she was holding. She looked over at the clock that was ticking loudly in the hallway. _7:27,_ it read. She then glanced down at the paper in her hands before pushing herself off the pillar and making her way down the hall and towards the front of the school.

In her hands, she held the tennis team tryout results. The list in her hands consisted of fifteen names; the names of the fifteen female students that had made the team. After the final day of tryouts, she and the sensei sat down in her office and selected the team for this term and the next. For her, the decision was difficult. She did not want to cause hurt feelings with the selections. An hour into the meeting, she started to hear Ootori Kyoya's voice in her head. _"Take the people you feel will benefit the team."_ The phrase echoed in her head, pushing out her doubts. Each lady that tried out held different traits that could benefit the team, but the benefits were outweighed by the lack of skill or experience. At the end of the night, they had selected the team. Fifteen girls; seven of them, herself included, for singles play, six of them selected for doubles, and two alternates. These were the fourteen girls that would fall under her care.

Slowly, the raven haired girl pulled two thumbtacks from the announcements message board. She then carefully she placed the roster on the board, tacking it to the board. Stepping back, she saw that the boy's tennis roster was already up. They also had a team of fifteen. Matsuri folded her hands behind her back as she stared up at the roster on the board. She hoped that she had made the right decisions. The sensei seemed to think that they had made the right selections.

Curious to see their reactions, but not wanting the girls to see her, she backed away from the announcement board and found her way to the shadows. And it seemed that it was just in time. She heard running footsteps coming down the hall and the sound of laughter. The girls were coming to see the list. The first two girls that appeared had indeed made the team. They were on the doubles list. They cheered and high-fived one another before walking back down the hall. Matsuri glanced at the clock again.

 _7:45._

By eight am, several more girls and a few boys came to see if their names were on the list. In her nervousness, she did not bother to look at the boys list in depth. She'd only glanced at it and saw that there were fifteen people on the list. The boys that came by looked pleased with themselves, and she assumed that they were on the list. However, the girls that came through were not all lucky. A few of them looked and when they did not see their names, burst into tears and ran down the hall, sobbing. Others looked several times before admitting defeat, and walking away with their heads down.

"Kinjo-Senpai."

Matsuri turned on her heel letting out a sharp gasp, startled by the sound of her name being called. Her raven hair whipped around with her, catching in her mouth and covering her face. As she attempted to remove her hair from her face, she heard a soft laughter admitting from the person that had called out to her.

"I'm sorry, Kinjo-Senpai, I didn't mean to startle you."

"Fujioka-san," Matsuri said as she placed her hand on her chest and started to breathe easier. She'd thought that one of the girls that had tried out, and didn't make it, had caught her watching.

"Oh, Haruhi, please," the second year girl said.

"Matsuri," the raven haired girl replied with a smile.

Before either of them could speak again, a young girl ran by them covering her eyes with her forearm and sobbing. Matsuri frowned as she watched the retreating figure.

"It'll be okay," Haruhi voiced as if she read her mind. "I'm sure you made the right decisions with the sensei." She smiled.

"You think?" she questioned as she looked back towards the announcement board. Two more girls appeared and hugged each other when they saw that they had both made it.

"Yes, I do, Matsuri-Senpai."

The older girl sighed and turned her honey brown eyes to the clock: _8:15._ "I suppose that we should get going to class." Haruhi held her arm up, elbow close to her side and forearm parallel to the ground. Matsuri laughed quietly and took the arm of the Host Club member standing next to her. "Are you escorting me to my locker, Haruhi-san?"

"The goal of the Host Club is to make every girl happy," Haruhi recited with a laugh. "If you wish me to escort you, then I will."

"It seems I am the luckiest girl in all of Ouran," Matsuri laughed.

* * *

Matsuri spent her day with her head down.

When she entered her homeroom class, she hadn't expected what she was greeted by. There were a few girl standing in the back of the room talking, and when she walked in they silenced themselves as their eyes bore into her. Initially, she was sure that she wasn't the one that they were looking at, but when she continued into the room and their eyes followed her all the way to her seat, she knew that she was their target. Cautiously, she looked over her shoulder to see if she could put a name to the faces. Ando Riyoko was the one in the center group. And then she knew what this was all about. Her younger sister had tried out for the tennis team and unfortunately did not make the cut. And this was her punishment. They were going to glare at her all day.

At first it didn't bother her all that much. So what they were looking at her? However, after three classes of them watching her without stopping. She began to feel the back of her neck heat up and turn red. At this point, she was more embarrassed than anything. She didn't like having her every motion monitored. It was maddening. But they weren't going to get to her. She'd managed to escape their gazes at lunch time. However, she decided that it would be more beneficial to her sanity to spend her time outside away from anyone else that might want to join in on the upset glaring.

She found herself at the rose garden maze, having just followed her feet wherever they took her. It wasn't until she was at the entrance of the garden maze that she even realized that she had made it outside of Ouran's walls. With a soft shrug, she walked into the maze. She clasped her hands behind her back gently as she strolled through the maze, her eyes falling on the roses in the walls. Eventually, she found her way to the center of the garden.

"Ootori-san."

Matsuri was surprised to see him sitting at the grey stone table in the center of the garden. When she approached, he had his head down, eyes scanning the words in the book in front of him. He must have been deep in concentration, because he didn't look up from the book when she called out to him. Instead, his brow creased even more as he continued to read.

Cautiously, she took a step towards the table, but then she stopped. She did not wish to bother him. He seemed deep in thought and it would have been rude. However, he was sitting where she wished to take residence. Perhaps they could share the table? So there she was, standing awkwardly in the middle of the maze.

"Kinjo-san."

He looked upward suddenly, probably feeling that she was staring at him. The sunlight glinted off his glasses as he looked at her. She brought her feet together, taking a half a set backward and bowing her head.

"I'm sorry, Ootori-san. I called out to you, but you didn't reply. I was just about to leave," she apologized.

"Kinjo-san, it's no bother. I apologize for not responding when you called out," he told her, waving his hand to dismiss her apology. "You may sit if you like," he told her as he moved to close his textbook.

"I don't wish to keep you from your studies," she replied.

He shook his head and gestured for her to come and sit. Matsuri moved from her spot and walked to the table where he was seated. She sat down gracefully across from him, she ran her fingers through her raven hair and sighed deeply.

"You seem distressed," he stated as he pushed his glasses up on his nose.

"What was your first clue?" she questioned.

"Would you care to talk about it?" he asked as he placed his elbows on the table and leaned forward.

She tilted her head to the side in curiosity. "Are you honestly interested?" she questioned.

Kyoya mimicked her head tilting action. "I would not have asked I were not."

If anything were true it was that. Ootori Kyoya was not one to take in frivolous information, he was also not one to asked a question that he did not care to know the answer to. "The team roster is up," she told him. "The roster is up and the sister of one of the girls that did not make the team is in our year. She's been glaring a hole in the back of my neck since homeroom."

Kyoya clasped his hands together and placed his chin on the knuckles of his clasped hands. "Do you feel that you made the right selection?" he asked her, a hint of curiosity laced in his voice.

Her answer was immediate. "Yes."

"Then the opinion of other's does not matter," he told her, there was a stern tone in his voice but he somehow managed to still sound cool and aloof.

"I suppose that you are right," she told him, already knowing that he knew he was correct. "You'll be a very good business man when you are older," she told him lightly.

The light glinted off his eyeglasses, hiding his eyes from view. "Oh?"

"Yes, and when you are a successful businessman remember that I told you that you were going to be great," she said with a soft smile.

Instead of responding to her statement, mostly because he was unsure of how to do so, he looked down at the time on his phone. "I think that we should be heading back." He stood and offered his hand out to her to help her up. Once she was standing, he collected his book and started out of the maze.

There was a silence between them. However, it was not one of those uncomfortable silences. She was very comfortable walking in silence with him. Just being in the space with him was fine. If you had asked her a month ago if she would ever think that she would be on an acquaintance level with Ootori Kyoya she would have laughed. They had been in school together for ages and they had never exchanged more than a few hundred words in all that time. And now, here she was spending her lunch period with him, accidentally of course, and some of her time after school. She hadn't expected for the year to start out this way; her path crossing with someone that she'd know of for ages.

"My father RSVP'd to your father's gala at the end of May," Kyoya said conversationally as they exited the maze.

"Oh?" she said, trying to sound interested. She'd heard enough about the gala at home to last her a lifetime. It was the last thing she wanted to hear about at school.

"Yes," he replied. He glanced over at her. "I assume you will be in attendance?"

Matsuri nodded, thinking back to the dress that her father had selected for her and presented to her last night when she finally made her way home from school. "I will." Matsuri looked over at him as she stopped walking. Curiosity got the best of her and she questioned, "Will you?"

He took a few more steps and then looked over his shoulder at her. The light glinted off his glasses, keeping her from getting a look at his eyes. "I suppose that I will."

With that Kyoya continued his trek towards the castle-esque building without a glance over his shoulder towards her. As he distanced himself from her, she felt the corners of her lips turn up.

To her surprise, his answer had pleased her.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hello again and thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter of _Serendipity_. Can you feel things heating up between our two main characters? Yes? No? Let me know with a review! I think it's fair to say that you can expect an update from me at least once a week, I try for every three or four days but once a week is probably what will be the best time frame. Anyway, let me know what you think!

 **DISCLAIMER:** I don't own anything about Ouran except my original characters.

 **~ Nikki**


	5. Chapter 5

"Suri-chan."

Matsuri pulled her eyes away from the textbook on her lap and towards the person calling her. She'd been peacefully sitting on the sofa in the main room, her legs tucked under her body and the book she'd been reading on her lap. Her hands were wrapped around a warm cup of tea. After a day of having a hole glared into the back of her neck by Ando Riyoko, she figured a cup of tea would be the best remedy.

"Papa," she answered as she reached over and placed her cup down on the table across from her and closed her textbook. Her father was standing with his shoulder pressed against the doorframe. He looked tired, to say the least. He worked all day, talking with people about their ideas and plans for technologies, and then after than he was on the phone with the caterers, discussing where to set up the food for the event and then to the band, telling them was songs were approved to play and when to play. Somewhere in between all of that, he also managed to get a beautiful dress that fit her almost perfectly. The seamstress had only had to talk the dress in a little. "You should rest."

He waved his hand in a dismissive manner. "I spoke with Rei today," he told her.

Matsuri sighed and she pushed her hair out of her face. It always seemed that she called at the worst times. "I see."

"She would like for you to call her," he continued.

The tone of his voice always changed when he talked about her. Kinjo Hayate was a tall man, towering over most people at six foot two inches with a smooth baritone voice that echoed down the halls if he spoke in anything louder than a whisper. However, whenever she came up everything about him changed. He suddenly looked smaller and his voice was weaker. She reminded him of his failings and Kinjo Hayate hated that he had failed.

"I'll give her a call," Matsuri said with a nod of her head. With that her father pushed away from the doorframe and bid her a goodnight. As he walked down the hall, Matsuri fetched her phone from the table and selected the name from her contacts.

The phone only ran twice before it was answered.

"Suri-chan!"

Matsuri took a deep breath, "Mother."

"How are you, my dear!" her mother cried over the line. "Your father told me that you were hosting tryouts for the tennis team this week. How did they go?"

Matsuri bit back a smile as her mother questioned her in rapid succession. "I'm well. Yes, I did. They went fine. The sensei and I selected a team of 15, myself included."

"That's wonderful!" her mother responded. "You are meant for great things." The line was quiet for a moment. "So I know that the term ends in June and you are going to be holding a few camps over the summer holiday to keep the team up, but I was hoping you would come spend a week or so with me over your summer break."

Matsuri arched her eyebrow and chewed on the inside of her lip. "You know I will, Mother. Just let me look over the schedule and I'll let you know when I can come over."

Her mother clapped on the other end of the line. "Wonderful! Call me when you know, Matsuri!"

"I will."

Before she could say goodnight, her mother had ended the call leaving her daughter listening to the dial tone. Without a word, she closed her phone and settled back into the sofa, but didn't bother to pick up her book again. Instead, she turned her honey brown eyes towards the end table on the other side of the room.

On the table were three photos. One was of her, age 10, holding a tennis racquet dressed in a coral polo shirt and a black skort with her raven hair pulled back into pigtails. The next was of her and her father. It was a fairly recent photo, maybe two years old, from when they went to an opera house. A night that she had enjoyed immensely and a tradition that she and her father had kept ever since. They would dress in their best formal attire, he'd buy a corsage, and they would get the best seats in the theater and watch. The last photo was an old family photograph and the one of the only ones that she could find with all three of them in it. She was in the center, her raven hair braided and pulled to her left side. Her mother stood on her right. A woman of average height, but more than average beauty. That was the one thing that she would always think of when she saw or mentioned her mother. She was a very beautiful woman. Her dark hair was long and flowing over her shoulders. Her eyes were bright with a smile. Her father, the tall man, was on her left grinning.

This was the only picture that she could find with all three of them looking happy. It was around this time, when she was six or so, that she started to notice that things with her parents weren't what they used to be.

When the family was invited out to gala's and events, her father and mother would stand close enough, but not too close. He would reach out to touch the small of her back to guide her into a room or to make sure that she didn't get separated from him. When he did, she would straighten up a little, keeping his hand millimeters away from her back, giving the perception of him touching her, but not really. Their laughs weren't the same. Their smiles didn't quite meet their eyes.

But no one said anything. They just continued to live like that. Fake smiles and laughs in public and at home silently moving past one another in the halls and quietly eating meals.

Until that night when she was eight.

 _Her mother had put her to bed a little earlier than usual and because of that the young girl couldn't find sleep. She stared at the ceiling restlessly or closed her eyes and tried to slow her breathing enough so that she could sleep. However, it was all in vain. She could not find sleep._

 _With a soft sigh, she pushed the blankets off her body and made her way to the window in her bedroom. From her window, she had a wonderful view of the front yard of their estate. In the spring time, she could see the flowers blooming. Then in the fall, the leaves would float down from the trees and blow across the browning grasses. In the winter, she always had the best view of the fresh snowfall. Gently, she opened the window, hoping that the outside air might help her sleep._

 _She'd just turned her back to return back to her bed, when she heard the front door open and her father's voice floated up into her window. It was late. What were they doing? So the curious young girl made her way back to the window._

 _Outside were her parents. Her mother stood facing away from the house and her father was behind her. She could make out that her father was holding an envelope or something like it. Her mother had her hand on a suitcase. When she'd put her to bed, her mother did mention that she was going away, but she didn't think she meant tonight. Her purse was also on her shoulder._

" _Rei," that was her father's voice. At least, she thought so. The voice was quiet and broken. That wasn't want her father's voice sounded like, but it was a man's voice and he was the only man outside._

 _Her mother didn't respond, or at least if she did, the young observer could not hear it over the sound of a car pulling up to where she was standing. It was one of the family's black cars. Her mother moved towards the car and opened the passenger side door and put her suitcase into the car._

 _Why wasn't her father helping her?_

" _Rei."_

 _Her father's voice was louder this time, but still weak sounding. In response, her mother placed her hand on the roof of the car and looked down at her feet. From the driver's side of the car, Matsuri saw a driver step out of the car and make his way towards the side entrance, leaving the car running. From her vantage point, it almost seemed like her mother's hand was shaking._

 _Her father took a step towards her with his arm extended. He took another step and then stopped, only one step away from her. He was close enough to grasp her in his hand and pull her back to him. Close enough to touch her dark hair. Close enough to touch her. He let his arm drop after a moment and there they stood silently. Each desperately, silently, begging the other to speak._

 _Neither did._

 _Rei shifted away from the car closing the passenger side door and then moving to the opposite side. The young girl could finally see her mother's face as she lifted her it to face Hayate. Her light brown eyes were watering and her cheeks were tear stained. She was crying._

" _Mommy?" the young girl questioned as she pressed her face closer to the window. Why was her mother crying?_

" _Rei," her father called at the same time._

 _Her mother's gaze seemed to meet her father's, from her angle she couldn't quite see her father's expression. She looked as if she wanted to say something, but she decided against it. Instead, she just lowered herself into the car and closed the door._

 _It was then that her father took two more steps, pressing his hand to the passenger side window. But it was too late. She'd already pressed her foot to the gas and started to drive away._

 _Both Kinjo Hayate and Kinjo Matsuri watched in silence as the car's taillights faded into the distance. When they were gone, her father sank to his knees, a strangled sob breaking through his lips._

 _Quietly Matsuri closed her window, blocking out the sounds of her father's grief and made her way back to bed. More awake than before._

"Matsuri."

That was her father's voice again.

After her mother left, her father had played strong for so long. She never saw him break his façade, save for the night she left. He kept her in school. He even took the time to sit her down and explain it to her, so when the rumors popped up and the gossip started, she would know the truth. Her father was a strong man. However, since her mother left, he was a broken man, preferring to work than to spend time at the house.

After her mother left, the silence at the Kinjo estate was almost suffocating. Kinjo Rei was a concert violinist. Matsuri remembered being greeted by the soft sounds of the violin when she would come home from school. Instead of starting on her homework, she would find her way up to her mother's practice room and watch from the doorway. That was the one thing that she remembered desperately missing when her mother left, aside from her mother. Sometimes, if she strained her ear enough she could still hear the soft sounds of the string instruments vibrato.

"Yes?" She turned her attention to her father and smiled.

"I would like to take you to lunch tomorrow as congratulations for completing your first task as a captain," he told her. "You may choose the location."

"Thank you, Papa," she said. Her father was not the type to verbally praise her very often. He expressed how proud he was of her in more quiet manners. "I would love to get lunch with you."

"Very well," he replied as he rubbed the back of his neck and lingered in the doorway.

"Father?"

He very clearly wanted something else of her.

"I was hoping that after we could look at the ballroom in the venue and see how to work the space. I could use the opinion of a lady."

Matsuri laughed, picked up her book, and cradled it under her arm. She tucked her phone into her pocket and then made her way to the doorway. Her father watched her as she approached him, lifted on to her tip toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. Gently, she drew back and started down the hall. "I'll be sure that you put everything in a place where it is ascetically pleasing." Matsuri laughed as she continued down the hallway and ascended the staircase.

As she continued to walk away, she could hear her laughter echoing down the hall. A sound that was mixed with her father's laughter as well. There might not have been the sound of a violin, but sometimes they filled the void with the sound of laughter.

* * *

 **A/N** : Hello! Thanks for reading! Sorry this chapter lacked a lot of plot advancement. I couldn't figure out how I wanted to get this information across to the readers. At first I had Kyoya researching it, but then he would have only gotten the base information and then rumors. So I let Matsuri flashback to it, so that there could be more details. But the next chapter…. Well you'll just have to wait and see what the next chapter holds for you. Please leave a review, even if it's just to say hi! I'd love love love to hear from you all!


	6. Chapter 6

The night of Kinjo Technologies Spring Gala had arrived. And if she were to say that the date did not sneak up on her then she would be lying. After the roster for the team had been posted, the team entered a period of conditioning. They met every day after school for two hours so that they could work on their stamina, doing long runs around the Academy grounds, and so they could work on their game strategies. On top of that, she had several tests. So after their practices were over, she would find herself in the library, which was much quieter at five in the evening, reading over her notes from her classes and taking her own from the textbook. Her grades were holding steady, but she needed more if she were going to take the second place position in class. Needless to say, her thoughts were a bit preoccupied and the event had slipped her mind.

It wasn't until she woke up and saw that one of the maids had pulled her dress out of the closet and hung it on the back of her door, that she even realized that the event was that night. Her father had spent the day pacing back and forth in his office, trying to calm the company's event planner. Something about the center pieces for the table's not being quite the right color. While she sat in the living room on the sofa, trying to focus her attention on the book in front of her. Just because the Gala was in less than eight hours did not mean that she didn't have a test on Monday.

Currently, she was sitting at the vanity in her bedroom with her eyes closed while Dan Eri, the makeup and hair stylist, finished up her work. Dan Eri had been her hair stylist for as long as she could remember.

"Look up, Suri-chan," the woman directed as she brought a mascara wand towards her honey brown eyes. "No flinching," Eri demanded as if she saw the neurons firing to form the reflex. When she finished with the mascara she took a step back from her client and nodded. "Yes, you'll be the talk of the Gala."

"Oh, no, Eri-san, we can't have that. I can't upstage the new technology my father will be unveiling tonight. That would not make for a happy home," Matsuri teased.

She had grown to think of Eri as a sister. Eri was always kind to her, but told her the honest truth. It was a type of tough love that Matsuri had not experienced before, and she was very against it at first. However, it grew on her, just as Eri did.

"All the boys will want to dance with you tonight. I hope you selected comfortable shoes," Eri continued as she started to pack away her brushes.

"No, Eri-san," the younger girl replied as she looked at the finished product of Eri's work.

Dan Eri had pulled her long black hair into a beautiful knotted up do with a deep part on the left side of her head to keep the illusion of a side bang on her face. Matsuri was fully aware of the challenges her hair's thickness posed when styling it, so the fact that Eri had managed to pull her hair into such an intricate style of braids and twists, was impressive. The job she had done applying her makeup was no less stunning. Seeing as the dress that she was wearing made a statement by itself, Eri had opted to do a subtler makeup look using greys to create a light metallic smoky accompanies by a thin wing of eyeliner and two coats of lengthening mascara. The use of blush on her cheeks was minimal. Matsuri found herself pleased with the look that Eri had created for her.

There was a knock on her door. "Suri-chan, I have called the limousine and it will be around front in a few minutes. Are you dressed?"

Matsuri looked down at her attire, still only dressed in her strapless bra and a pair of pajama bottoms. Eri laughed. "I'll be ready shortly, Father," she called through the door as she stood from the vanity.

The young girl grabbed the dress that she was wearing to the Gala off the back of the door and started towards the bathroom. Once inside, she shed her pajama bottoms and took the dress off the hanger. She eyed her reflection carefully as she stepped into the article of clothing. It truly was a beautiful dress.

"Eri, can you zip this for me?" the young girl asked as she backed out of the bathroom, showing Eri the zipper. There was gentle a tug as the dress closed around her.

"You look lovely," Eri approved as she handed a pair of shoes to Matsuri and then began to flatten some of the flyaways in her hair.

"Thank you."

"Matsuri!"

Both of the ladies laughed as Matsuri's father shouted up the staircase.

"Guess you'd better get going."

* * *

Ootori Kyoya felt very at home at these types of events. It was at these type of events that he broadened his networking circle. By playing nice at one of these events with the right people, he got his name into the minds of, well, the right people. It was at these types of events that he was more driven to prove to his father that he was going to be more than the third born Ootori.

As he took a seat in the chair behind his name plate, placed between his father's and Danzai Eiji, the CEO of Danzai Engineering. Around the table, were other CEOs some that he had already spoken with at other events like this and some that he had not spoken to. This dinner would be a chance to sit in on conversations that he would have otherwise not gotten the chance to hear.

"Kyoya," the voice of Ootori Yoshio said sharply as he settled into his seat as well. "You are not to speak unless spoken to, do you understand that?"

The light glinted off his glasses as son turned to father. "I understand."

Looking away from his parent, Kyoya looked down to straighten out his black tie, which was already perfectly straight. He then relaxed back into the chair, watching the room fill with CEOs and their guests. He recognized many of them, their names and their company statistics running through his head. Some of the companies he knew were on their way to a merger, some of them sitting together at the same table and conversing between themselves.

Then their table they were seated at started to fill. He and his father stood to greet the people coming to their table, bowing. His father introduced him to those that he didn't know, almost reluctantly, and to those that Kyoya did know he greeted himself. Then he was quiet, unless spoken to, taking in the conversations around him. Stock in the Hamamoto Group was starting to fall, and he made note to look into that at a later date, while stock was growing in the Egami Group.

However, when the conversation took a turn to small talk Kyoya let his eyes wander around the room. He saw more familiar faces but nothing that struck his interest. That was until his steely grey gaze found her.

She was clad in a deep navy toned dress that hugged her body closely at her torso before flaring out at the bottom into a mermaid style. Lace ran from the scoop neck line to halfway down her arms. Gentle beading covered the top portion of her dress, accenting the lace. Mixed in with the beading were sequins, not enough to make the dress tasteless, but enough to have the light shimmer off them in such a way that it was enchanting and difficult to look away from her form. Her eyes were closed with laughter as she placed her hand on the shoulder of the man next to her, Kinjo Hayate. In response, he placed him hand on top of hers.

Kyoya tried to pulled his gaze from her, but failed every time. His heart pounded in his chest as he watched her tilt her head back in laughter Why? Why couldn't he stop looking at her? He was unable to find any rational reason that he was unable to turn his gaze away from her. Well there was one…

Kinjo Matsuri looked stunning.

* * *

Ootori Kyoya took his leave from the table after dinner, allowing his father to speak with his colleagues. Pushing his glasses up on his nose, he took to walking about the venue. Kinjo Hayate had released his guests to talk amongst themselves and enjoy the live music that was being provided to dance to. A few couples took to the dance floor, moving across the floor with grace and skill.

He stuck to the shadows, taking in the conversations as he passed by. The conversations that people had when they thought that no one was listening were quite impressive. He'd found out many company secrets that way. No one payed any attention to the child lurking in the shadows.

However, he found himself out of the background when he caught a glimpse of a deep navy dress in the crowd. Curious, he stepped towards it, finding this was indeed who he thought it was.

"Kinjo-san," he greeted with a deep bow.

Matsuri turned over her left shoulder at the sound of a familiar voice in a crowd of semi-familiar faces.

"Ootori-san," she greeted in return with a smile.

"May I have this dance?" he asked as he held his hand out to her. He'd asked her the question without even thinking about it. In fact, he was surprised that he'd even asked it. She took his hand without question and he guided her to the dance floor. He gave her a spin as a new song started and then found his hand on his waist. "What a lovely event," he told her as she began to follow her lead.

Matsuri met his grey gaze and nodded. "I will give your compliments to Ino-san, she's the company event coordinator." She gestured towards a woman with auburn hair and a panicked look in her eyes standing near her father. "But not tonight. She's had about as much as she can take, I'm afraid."

They lapsed into silence as they danced. Matsuri had to admit that she was rather surprised. She hadn't expected him to be such a fluid dancer. She also didn't expect him to look so handsome. Dressed in all black, save the white shirt under his vest, he was a vision. His always perfect hair was slightly more perfect than usual. She found it truly difficult to take her eyes off of him.

The beading on the bodice of her dress felt smooth under his fingertips as he guided her around the dancefloor. A light scent, placed just right on her skin so that is was not overpowering, wafted to his nose. A sort of fiery and spicy scent. Unconsciously, the gap between them closed slightly, an unnoticeable amount to any observer, and he inhaled once more, the scent stronger this time.

Caught up in their own individual thoughts, they danced two more songs in a comfortable silence.

"Ootori-san," she said to him quietly, so not to harshly pull him from his thoughts.

"Yes?"

"Would you care to step outside?" she questioned carefully, not breaking their rhythm. The time on the clock head caught her eye, it was nearly time for her father to unveil the new piece of technology that the company had come up with.

Kyoya nodded as he took a step away from her, the fiery scent leaving him as he guided her, hand in hand, to a door off to the side. He pushed it open gently and held it so that she could step out before him.

They were standing on a balcony, not a particularly high one, seeing as the ballroom was on the third floor of the venue, but high enough to see a bit of the skyline. A soft breeze passed by the both of them, catching her peppery scent, he could distinctly pick up the scent of red pepper, and bringing it to his nose. Matsuri leaned on the railing with her forearms, careful not place any portion of her dress on the railing in fear of it getting snagged or smudged.

"You look quite beautiful tonight," Kyoya said to her as he approached her and placed his back on the railing, leaning on it slightly as he looked down at her.

Matsuri looked upward from the corner of her eye as the corners of her lips upturned. "Thank you." Was that a blush he saw on her cheeks? "You look very handsome, as usual."

He looked away from her. He could feel his heart rate increasing and he tried to calm himself, not really knowing why he was reacting the way he was. Her peppery scent greeted his nose and his heart rate picked up even more. He was being irrational. He wasn't in any 'danger' nothing was threatening him, but here he was trying to calm his heart rate.

"Ootori-san?" she said.

"Kinjo-san?"

"Thank you for the dance," she said as she turned to look at him. The lighting outside was dim and there was no glare on his glasses for him to hide his expression. His grey eyes widened in surprise. "I apologize, if I caught you off guard, Ootori-san."

He shook his head. "You're quite welcome. You're an exquisite dancer."

"I could say the same about you," she replied quickly.

Kyoya reached over and brushed a strand of her black hair, that was attempting to escape from her bun, behind her ear. Brushing his fingers against her neck softly and sent a chill through his body. Unbeknownst to him, he also sent one through hers.

From inside the ballroom, she heard her father's voice over the microphone, asking for everyone's attention. She pushed off the balcony railing lightly and stood. Her honey brown eyes met his as she started to take her leave. "There should be sometime after the reveal for socializing and more dancing, and things of the like. If you aren't too busy, and of course haven't left, could I request a dance from you?"

"It would be a pleasure."

The raven-haired girl smiled brightly. "I look forward to it, Ootori-san."

"As do I."

The girl then turned and started towards the door. However, when she placed her hand on the handle she turned to face him. She was quiet for a moment, debating on her next course of action.

"Matsuri," she said quietly. So quietly that she wasn't sure if he had heard her. "Call me Matsuri, Ootori-san."

Kyoya was glad for the distance between them as she spoke. From this distance he was certain that she could not see the surprise on his face. It was difficult to surprise him, or catch him off guard, and she had managed to do both in the process of one conversation.

His heartrate picked up a little as he responded. "Kyoya, please."

Matsuri's smile did nothing to calm his heart's erratic rhythm. She bowed to him before turning and entering the building. Leaving him on the balcony, his eyes lingering on the place where she had just been standing.

* * *

 **A/N:** Can you feel things starting to heat up? Maybe... I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. it's one of my favorites that I have _posted_ for this story so far. Let me know what you think with a review.

 **~ Nikki**


	7. Chapter 7

"Matsuri-hime!"

Her honey brown eyes looked up from the notes on the desk in front of her. She was greeted by a pair of violet eyes and a white rose. Souh Tamaki. Ootori Kyoya stood behind him with the light glaring off of his glasses as he scribbled in his notebook. As if he knew she was watching him, he looked away from the notebook and over to her, the light shifting off of his lens, allowing her to actually see his grey eyes. A light blush crept across her cheeks as their eyes met. He smirked as he looked back towards his writings.

"Tamaki-kun," she said as she took the white rose from his hands.

"You have a tennis match today, yes?" he questioned as he leaned down on to her desk, bringing his face near hers.

"I do."

Today was the first match of the semester, between Ouran Academy and Lobelia Girls' Academy. While the game was not going on the season's record, a scrimmage of sorts, the game would do nothing but fuel the rivalry between Ouran and Lobelia's tennis teams.

Tamaki was quiet for a moment. "Mommy?"

Matsuri's eyebrow arched quickly. _Mommy?_

Kyoya pushed his glasses up with his index finger and looked over at Tamaki. "Yes, Daddy?"

 _Daddy?_

"Mommy, I have a wonderful idea," Tamaki said as he spun in a circle.

"Yes, Tamaki?"

"What if the Host Club attends the tennis match this afternoon."

Matsuri's eyes widened in surprise. That was the absolute last thing that she had expected to hear from Tamaki. She thought that maybe he was going to suggest a tennis cosplay or something like that. ANYTHING other than what he had said. Kyoya also seemed to have been expecting the idea to go another direction, as he stopped mid-stroke of his pencil.

"Oh!" Matsuri said suddenly. "You don't have to do that!"

"It would be a pleasure to see you play," Tamaki said as he reached out to grab her hands.

"What about the Club functions?"

Surely, she had him there. He couldn't just abandon the Club, right?

"The Host Club will be closed today," Tamaki told her.

The lead in the mechanical pencil Kyoya was using to write with snapped suddenly. When she looked up, she saw that Kyoya was clenching the pencil in his hand tightly. It was clear that he had not been expecting that either. And of course, neither had she. However, how was she going to argue with that.

When she didn't speak, Tamaki looked at his self-proclaimed best friend. "Kyoya?"

The Ootori was silent as he continued to write in the notebook. Tamaki gazed at him hopefully, his violet eyes growing large in anticipation. "I don't see why not," the vice-president answered after a moment.

"Well it is settled, we will be there to see you play!" he said as he kissed the back of her hand and waltzed away to take his seat.

Ootori Kyoya remained. "You're costing the club a small fortune, Matsuri-chan." He glanced down at her, the light hiding his eyes making it difficult to read his expression. When she opened her mouth to speak, he shook his head. "I hope you play well today."

With that he moved away from her and took his seat.

* * *

"Nervous, Senpai?"

Matsuri looked up from her tennis racquet and was met with the small round face of Muso Tomoka. There was a bright smile on her face as she pulled an invisible piece of lint off her Ouran issued blue polo. She held her racquet in her right hand, swinging it lightly, as she looked down at her seated Senpai.

"No," the older girl answered quickly as she looked back down at her racquet. She wasn't nervous, that wasn't quite the way she felt. Anxious, maybe.

The younger girl sat next to her captain on the bench in the locker room and exhaled slowly. "I am." Matsuri turned her gaze towards the first year player, wordlessly urging her to continue speaking. "This is the first game that I've played in that will be truly competitive. I'm just nervous that..."

Matsuri placed her hand on Tomoka's shoulder a flashed her a bright smile. "You're going to do great," she assured. However, the girl still looked hesitant. "You don't trust me?" Matsuri asked feigning offense.

"What?! No, Senpai. I do! I trust you," Tomoka was shocked that her sempai had asked her that question.

"Then trust that I made the right decision about you," Matsuri told her as she stood from the bench. The older girl brushed off the back of her white skort and straightened her blue top before offering her hand to the younger girl. "Let's go."

Tomoka smiled as she took Matsuri's hand and stood. Together, they walked out of the locker room and towards the tennis courts.

As the approached, they were greeted by the sounds of racquets meeting tennis balls and light conversation. The older girl let her bottom lip catch between her teeth as she walked spinning the racquet in her hand. She took deep breaths, trying to clear her mind of everything that wasn't tennis.

"Senpai," the young girl said as a blush started to creep across her cheeks. Matsuri stopped short, drawing her eyes to the girl. "The Host Club is here and I think that they are waving at you."

Matsuri followed Tomoka's gaze and saw that the Host Club was indeed there, as handsome as ever dressed in their school blazers that matched the polos the girls were wearing, just as Tamaki had promised. And she was right, they were waving to her. Three hands waved in her direction madly while Haruhi tried to get them to stop. Kyoya looked towards her with the corners of his lips upturned.

"No," Matsuri commented. "They are waving at you."

With that she made her way on to the court, slipping in next to one of the older players that she'd been on the team with previously and taking a few practice swings of her own.

* * *

"Kinjo v. Akino."

Gently, Matsuri pushed herself up away from the gate she'd been leaning on with the rest of her teammates and started towards the court. From the other side of the court, she saw a girl with auburn hair do the same thing. Matsuri gently twisted her racquet in her hand, warming her wrist.

"Five minutes to warm up. Host team takes the first serve."

Matsuri easily caught the ball that had been tossed in her direction in her open hand and bounced it on the ground several times before making eye contact with Akino from Lobelia, letting her know she was about to serve.

* * *

"Senpai, please," Haruhi begged as she tried again to hold Tamaki's hand down and keep him from waving to the raven haired girl on the court. "You're distracting her."

"She must know that we are here," he told her firmly as he continued to try to wave at Matsuri, who was lightly moving across the court as she returned the ball back over the net.

"Senpai, she won't see you," Haruhi continued.

Tamaki moved to stand, but was pulled down by the boy sitting next to him. When he stood again, the back of his head was met with the notebook Kyoya was holding in his hands.

"Mommy, why did you hit daddy?" Tamaki wailed, causing Haruhi to reach over and cover his mouth with her hands.

Matsuri's honey brown eyes turned towards where the Host Club was sitting. In that brief moment, her eyes caught Kyoya's. The corner of his lips upturned in the smallest of smirks and it took everything in her, to turn her attention back towards the ball flying over the net.

Kyoya shifted in his seat, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, but not taking his eyes off of her. "Tamaki, I suggest that you cease that racket."

"Oh, Mommy's angry," the twins chorused as they appeared behind Kyoya. All it took was an angry sideways glance to silence them and send them to their original seats beside Haruhi.

The announcer held his hand up, signaling the end of the warm up time. The Lobelia student tossed the ball towards the announcer and made her way towards the center of the court. She placed her racquet head on the ground and gave it a spin. Kyoya couldn't quite make out what Matsuri had called, but when the racquet landed she received the ball.

"Opening serve to Kinjo of Ouran."

Kyoya watched as Matsuri bounced the ball in her hand while she made her way to the back right part of the court. There was a different kind of look in her honey brown eyes now.

"Love all," Matsuri said, loud enough to be heard.

Her serve was fast. It seemed that she'd hit the ball out of the air before she had even tossed it up. It flew easily across the net, landing right next to the singles sideline in the left service box and then taking a bounce out.

"15-love." Matsuri said again.

Her next serve was just as fast and powerful. Landing in the middle of the right service box. Akino from Lobelia was ready, sending it back to her with an equal amount of power towards the far corner of the service box, expecting to earn a point of the board, but Kinjo returned it as if it were no problem.

Kyoya had to admit that he was impressed by Kinjo Matsuri. She never stuck him as a particularly aggressive person. She was very well mannered and polite. However, this was a different girl on the court. Her honey brown eyes followed every move of her competitor and it seemed that by the time that Akino from Lobelia had returned the ball, Matsuri knew exactly were it was going as if she were playing out the probabilities in her head as she served.

The ball hit the ground and when Akino moved it hit it, the ball moved in the complete opposite direction bouncing on her side of the court again.

"30-love." Again, Matsuri made the call.

"I thought for sure that Akino was going to return that one," Hikaru said as he watched Matsuri serve again, her racquet sending the ball into the far corner of the service box.

"She put a fair amount of spin on it, sending the ball in one direction only to have it move in the other when the ball hits the ground," the Ootori explained as he continued to watch her.

She stayed on her toes the whole time, moving swiftly and gracefully. It was like her racquet was an extension of her arm, the way that she moved it so easily. As the sun started to shift in the sky, he could see the little drops of sweat forming on her forehead as the game continued.

It was clear that her opponent for Lobelia was getting frustrated, because all of her returns were hard and sharp. Sending the ball in the far corners of the service boxes and very close to the singles line. Each return from Lobelia sent, Matsuri running further and further to the sides of the court. One sent to her the service line while the other sent her to the baseline, meaning she had to hit the ball backwards while she was running forwards. Which worked well the first time, not so well the second time.

"30-15." This call was made by Akino of Lobelia.

Matsuri's ability to return a serve was as good as her ability to serve. Akino's serve was strong, sending it flying to the center of the left service box. Matsuri was there before it even landed.

"She's good, ne?" the twins said as they watched the ball soaring back and forth over the net.

"And fast," Haruhi agreed, her brown eyes moving from girl to girl trying to keep up with which side of the court the ball was on.

"She's quite impressive, it's she Kyoya?" Tamaki questioned as he looked at his friend through curious violet eyes. Tamaki tried to feign innocence, but he was not very subtle about anything in his life.

The corners of Kyoya's lips threatened to turn up at Tamaki's comment, but he resisted. Instead, he shifted in his seat and pushed his glasses up on his nose before responding, "Quite."

* * *

Matsuri released her team, after giving them a talk about their game. She said nothing bad about their playing, how could she? They had all played so well. Overall, Ouran Academy had won; beating Lobelia in two of the doubles matches and four of the singles matches. The talk she gave was mainly centered around them having a good game and to reflect on their game play and strategies and come back to practice on the following week prepared to discuss and assess the strengths of their matches.

Afterwards, she gathered all of her belongings and pulled her cell phone out of her bag. She flipped it open to call her driver to ask him to pull around the front. However, she was greeted by a new message notification from an unknown number.

 _You played a good game. The Club's loss of profit may have been worth it. – K_

K?

Before responding, she called her driver to let him know she was done and then brought her attention back to the unknown text message, instead of texting back, she dialed the number and then brought the phone to her ear.

"Miss. Kinjo," the voice greeted after the second ring.

"Mr. Ootori," she replied a soft smile played on her lips. Briefly, she leaned against the nearest wall as she tried to bite back her smile.

On the other side of the line, she heard a shifting of paper and the creaking of a chair before he spoke again. "You played well today," he complimented, his smooth tenor voice sounding smoother over the phone.

"Thank you. I'm pleased that I didn't waste the Host Club's time since I caused so much lost profit today," she teased.

Kyoya chuckled, "I'm also pleased that you did not waste our time as well as lose us profits in one day. That would have been very detrimental to your friendship with the Host's."

"I doubt that anyone but you is in it for the money," she responded with a smirk on her lips.

"Well, then it would have been the most detrimental to our friendship."

They were quiet for a moment as she walked towards the front of Ouran Academy to get to her car. Over the line, she heard him typing away at his laptop. Typical Kyoya.

"What are you researching?" she questioned.

The typing stopped. Kyoya then gave a soft chuckle before he started to type again. "I'm looking into the stocks of Yano Industries."

"Ah," she replied gently. "Yano Industries is partnered with the Ui Group, correct?" Again, she heard the typing stop. "Surprised?"

Kyoya was quiet for a long moment as he mulled over the thoughts in his head. Matsuri respected his silence, allowing him to think. "Miss. Kinjo, would you like to accompany me to dinner tomorrow evening? You'll be home by ten." She heard his chair creak, assuming that it was him leaning back in it. She also heard a tapping on something, possibly the cap of his pen on his notebook.

"Yes," was her all too eager answer.

"I'll pick you up at 6." Even though she couldn't see him, she could see the smirk on his thin lips.

"Sounds like a plan," she said, before mentally face palming herself. How stupid did that sound?

"Miss. Kinjo, how do you feel about Thai cuisine?"

"I enjoy a little spice in life, Mr. Ootori," she assured through a soft laugh. "I will see you tomorrow evening."

"Yes," Kyoya agreed. "Have a pleasant night Miss. Kinjo."

Matsuri placed her hand on the handle of her car door, a goofy smile on her lips. "You as well, Mr. Ootori," she said before ending the call and slipping into the back of her limo.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading. Thanks for all the favorits and follows! Happy Valentines Day! I hope it was enjoyable. It's getting a little warmer in Kyoya/Matsuri land. Get excited! Anyway, let me know what you all think with a review!

 **~ Nikki**


	8. Chapter 8

"You're wearing that?"

Kinjo Matsuri looked away from the notes on her lap and glanced upward towards her door. In the doorway stood the owner of the voice, and her best friend, Ito Ami. Ami wasn't looking at Matsuri at all, instead she was gazing at the outfit laying at the foot of the bed. It was nothing special, just a simple knee-length pale blue dress. She figured that she would dress it up with some jewelry or the shoes that she would wear.

"What's wrong with it?" Matsuri questioned as she watched her friend walk across the plush carpet of her bedroom and directly to her closet. "Oh, Ami, please. Don't go in there. Fuji-san will not be happy having to reorganize everything after you drag all of my clothes out." Ami ignored her friend as she started to shift things around. "Ami, will you just put everything back the way you found it?"

Getting no response, Matsuri stood up from her bed and strolled to the closet. Ami was pushing things around with a sense of urgency, plucking things out of the mix and then shoving them right back, all the while muttering about how Matsuri didn't have anything to wear. Ami's brow lowered in concentration as she turned her attention to the drawer and started in on them, pulling shirts from the mix and skirts and then shoving them back without bothering to fold them. Matsuri took to going behind her and folding the clothes that her friend had tossed back into the drawer, crumpled.

"You have NOTHING to wear, Matsuri! How do you live like this!"

Matsuri blinked at her friend's frustrated shouting. She had plenty to wear, Ami had just spent the past five minutes ripping her wardrobe apart.

"Matsuri?" Her father peeked his head into the doorway, taking in the sight before him. While she had tried to keep up with Ami while she tore through the drawers, she had been rather unsuccessful and had given up. Allowing her to throw her clothes all over the floor in her bedroom. "Ito-san," he greeted. "Would you like me to have some tea sent up?" The sight before him didn't seem to faze him, in fact it was a fairly common occurrence. Ami would come to see if Matsuri had anything that she could borrow, and her room would end up this way, as if some sort of hurricane had blown through the room.

"No thank you, Kinjo-sama," Ami said with a soft bow.

Kinjo Hayate pushed himself off the door frame, but stopped himself. "Matsuri, where are you going?"

"To dinner with Ootori Kyoya," Ami answered for her as she started to examine the pale blue dress on the foot of the bed. It was apparent that Ami had decided to work with what Matsuri had selected to wear.

"Ootori Kyoya?" her father replied.

He hadn't thought that she knew him all that well, True, they shared several dances at the Gala, however he had assumed that it was due to the fact that he was one of the only people there in her age range and because she knew him a little from being in a same grade. He had just assumed that she was dancing with him because she was semi-comfortable with him.

"Yes, he said that he would have me back no later than ten," Matsuri told him as she spared a glance in his direction.

"Deliver a message to him for me, would you?"

Ami stopped pulling at the hem of the dress and turned her attention to the male Kinjo standing in the doorway.

"Of course," Matsuri agreed.

"Let him know that I have accepted the invitation to the business conference that his father sent a few days ago."

And with that he removed himself from the room and continued his path down the hallway.

* * *

"Kinjo-sama?" the voice of a small maid called into her bedroom. Her honey brown eyes left the textbook that she had started reading again and turned to the maid. "There's a Ootori-sama here to pick you up."

Matsuri closed her textbook and turned her gaze to the clock on the wall. "Six on the dot," she muttered to herself. "He's punctual. I'll give him that."

Matsuri grabbed her light crème cardigan from the foot of her bed and took a look at herself in the mirror. Despite Ami's continued attempts to make her, she had opted out of wearing a full face of makeup. Instead she went for her a subtle look with just mascara and eyeliner, a huge disappointment to Ami.

"He's quite handsome, miss."

Matsuri blushed adding a pink color to her cheeks. She ran her fingers through her dark hair and then fluffed it, all in a way of stalling before responding to the maid. Ami had wanted her to wear it up, but it remained down, the two of them making a compromise with a tight braid running along the right side of her head. "Yes, he is," she replied quietly.

As Matsuri walked with the maid, she could hear talking. Her father's baritone voice echoed down the hall. Followed by a smoother tenor. She stutter-stepped at the realization. Kyoya was talking to her father. Kinjo Hayate's booming baritone laughter echoed down the hall. He was talking to her father and making him laugh. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

"Matsuri," her father greeted, apparently seeing her out of the corner of his eye. "Come in, come in! I was just talking to your friend here."

"I can see that," Matsuri replied carefully as she eyed both of the men in the room. Kyoya was sitting, legs crossed in the arm chair. He was dressed in a grey toned button down shirt and a pair of denim pants. "What about?"

Her father placed a large hand on her head, in an affectionate manner. "Business."

Matsuri resisted the urge to roll her eyes and opened her mouth to say something to her father but Kyoya's smooth tenor stopped her. "Are you quite ready to leave, Miss. Kinjo?"

He knew her well.

Matsuri nodded and her father removed his hand, allowing her to brush it back into place. "You'll have her back by ten?" Kinjo Hayate asked.

"You have my word," Kyoya assured as he stood from his arm chair and held his hand out to her father's, who extended his to Kyoya. "It was a pleasure, KInjo-sama."

The teenaged boy then turned his attention to the girl in the pale blue dress. He then guided her out of the sitting area, his hand on the small of her back, and towards his car. Matsuri waved over her shoulder at her father as she left the room.

Kyoya was a gentleman, not that she had expected anything else. He held that door open her for when she left the house and opened the door for her when they got to the limo. The limo had plush leather seats and a soft carpet over the floor. It was a large limo, larger than hers and larger than she had expected.

"Something wrong?" he questioned as the limo started to pull away from her home. Apparently, she'd been making some sort of face that caused him some concern. Not that she was even slightly aware of that fact.

"Oh no," she replied leaning back into the seat and laughing. "I just don't think I realized how much wealth came with the Ootori name."

Kyoya chuckled, crossing his long legs. "Many do not."

Matsuri let the topic drop and by doing so let them fall into silence, as she turned her attention to the passing scenery. The more time she spent with Kyoya, the more she understood his patterns of conversation. At first, the silences were cold, almost used to keep people at arms distance. However, after a while of the cold silences, he started to warm. The chill in the air around the quiet disappearing and being replaced by something more serene and warm.

"Kyoya-kun, were are we going?" she questioned turning her eyes back to him.

"Bankoku," he replied, letting his grey eyes meet her honey brown ones. "They have a wide selection of Thai foods."

"You prefer spicy foods, Kyoya-kun?" she questioned curiously.

"I do," he replied lightly.

They lapsed into silence again. Her watching the scenery pass by and him watching her from his peripheral vision. He was quite enchanted by her, if he were honest with himself. It wasn't a physical enchantment, well not completely, she was very beautiful. Her perfect raven hair and her glowing honey brown eyes. However, it was more than that. It was her intelligence and her drive to be the best captain of the team she could be. It was how compassionate she was. That was what enchanted him.

This enchantment was foreign to him. He'd been hosting for three years, saying all the things that the ladies that came to the club wanted to here. He'd been just going through the motions of the act. Then she came. A girl that he'd been in classes with since elementary found her way into the club. Kyoya had completed many calculations and diagrams to attempt to pin point when the exact moment she started to enchant him was and he came up with inconclusive results. The only thing that made sense to him was that she'd been enchanting him from the start; since the day that she sat down across from him with a cup of rose colored tea.

The limo coasting to a stop brought his attention back from his thoughts.

"Are we here?" she questioned.

Kyoya leaned and looked out of the window. "We are."

* * *

The restaurant was polished to perfection.

When they entered, they were greeted by wooden dividers in a deep mahogany color. Gently, Matsuri reached out and touched the wood, running her fingertips along the grain. On the floor was a lighter hardwood that contrasted beautifully with the deep color on the dividers. Kyoya let her take in the colors of the wood and the bronze metal on it as he went to the hostess and told him who he was. By the time, she confirmed that their table was ready, Matsuri had stepped beside him. He placed his hand on the small of her back and gently guided her. His slender fingers gently grazing the fabric of her light blue dress as they walked.

The hostess took them through a public side of the restaurant, which was fairly loud with the conversations of the patrons, and to a quieter portion of the venue, where the conversations had settled to a dull roar and there were candles on the tables. The hostess gestured to a square, black table by the window overlooking the skyline. There Kyoya pulled out her chair and once she was settled in, he took the seat across from her.

"How did you stumble upon this gem?" she asked her as she peeked at the menu.

"I like spicy foods, so I go to where they are," he answered. "Can I make a suggestion?"

"Please."

Kyoya looked over the menu, as more of a formality. He'd ventured to the venue more than a fair share of times and he was very familiar with the selection. "The Gai Med Ma Moung (Chicken Cashew Nuts) is good," he told her. "So is the Geng Kheaw Wan Gai (Green Chicken Curry)."

"The Gen Kheaw Wan Gai sounds good," she told him as the waitress appeared with two glasses of sake. The corners of Kyoya's lips up turned as she spoke. "What?"

"You picked the spiciest item on the menu," he told her as he waved the waitress down to him and whispered something to her. When she left, the woman had a light blush on her cheeks and she seemed a little off balance. He looked upward to Matsuri's honey toned eyes. There was some sort of emotion, a glint of something in her eyes, and he couldn't place it. "Yes?"

"What did you do to that poor girl?" she questioned.

Kyoya looked over in the direction the waitress had disappeared, as was now reappearing. In her hands was a bottle of red wine and two wine glasses. She placed each glass on the table and uncorked the bottle.

"Are you ready to order?"

Kyoya looked over at Matsuri, who nodded. "Yes. For me, the Gai Med Ma Moung, and for the lady, the Gen Kheaw Wan Gai."

The waitress took the menus and nodded disappearing from their table again.

"You didn't answer my question," she told him as he picked up the bottle and gestured to her wine glass. She nodded and watched him start to pour.

"What question?"

Matsuri placed her and on the bottom of the glass, letting him know to stop pouring. "You Hosted that girl," she told him, providing an answer to her own question,

"I Hosted her?" he questioned with a soft laugh.

"You used your Host Club persona on her."

Kyoya's steely grey eyes met hers with an intensity similar to the day that she'd questioned about Haruhi's gender. However, it wasn't quite as harsh as that day. There was a softer question under the intense gaze.

Kinjo Matsuri had seen through him. She knew that the persona his used at the club was not who he actually was. Honestly, anyone that paid him any attention could have figured that out, however, most people didn't. He was just the best friend of Souh Tamaki and the Vice-President of the Host Club. Most people never bothered to request him or get to know him, so they wouldn't know that. But she did. She'd seen through his façade. However, the question that plagued him was just how far she had seen.

"I simply asked her to bring a bottle of the best port wine," he replied honestly. "No Hosting involved," he assured. He watched as she swished her wine in the glass before taking a sip. "Good?"

"Great," she answered. "Oh, I have a message to deliver to you before we get to involved in our evening."

"Yes?" His eyebrow arched in curiosity.

"My father has given a positive RSVP to the business conference that your father invited him too."

"My father will be glad of it," Kyoya said with a nod. "He thoroughly enjoyed meeting your father more formally at the Gala he hosted and the technology that he produces. He thinks that it could be beneficial to our business."

A more formal tone had slipped into his voice as he spoke and folded his hand under his chin.

"What do you think?"

"I'm sorry?" he questioned, the formal tone slipping away.

"I asked, what did you think about the technology? What do you think about the benefits to the Ootori Medical Group? What are your opinions?" she questioned.

Kyoya was caught a bit off guard by her questions. It was rare that anyone asked him what he thought of anything to do with the Ootori Medical Group. Tamaki would ask from time to time, but other than that the question was not posed to him all that frequently.

"Do you really want to talk business at dinner?" he questioned honestly curious.

"I wouldn't have asked if I did not want to know your opinion," she said, reminding herself of something he said to her a few weeks ago.

The corners of his lips upturned, as if remembering the same conversation that she was, and he nodded. "Of course." Kyoya paused, letting his thoughts settle. "I think that there can be benefits in the future. However, at the moment, the technology is too new. There are bugs that need to be worked out before we place it in medical technologies. In the future, the technology could be implemented in pacemakers or things of the like."

Matsuri nodded and let the topic drop. She did not want to talk business at their dinner, however she was curious to know what he thought. She heard him tell her about his father's ideas but he never really told her his thoughts on the company's progress, and she knew that he had brilliant ideas.

Matsuri sipped on her wine as she watched him over the rim on the glass. Ootori Kyoya interested her, and after knowing him for only a few weeks she regretted not getting to know him sooner. Sure they had been in school together for years and not once had they talked to the extent that they had this term. She was surprised that they got along so well. He always seemed so drawn into himself and so focused on his schoolwork that she wasn't sure if he even really wanted people to talk to him. However, she found conversation easy with him. The conversations she had with him were natural, like they weren't even trying, it just happened.

Between the easy flow of conversation and their friendship, she found herself enamored by him. He was so driven, focused on proving his worth. Yet, his heart was still so caring. No matter how hard he tried to hide that from the world, she saw that. She saw it in the way that he acted around his friends, the other Hosts. While he tried to keep the façade up, she could tell that he had a deep concern for every single one of them, and now her.

* * *

"I must say you have a great taste in food," she told him as she started to recognize the scenery outside the window. They were nearing her estate, meaning that their evening was coming to an end. She found herself wishing that it wouldn't.

"There's another place I frequent," he told her. "Perhaps I can convince you to accompany me sometime in the future," he posed, watching her through his lenses.

"No convincing necessary," she assured. "It would be my pleasure."

Kyoya smiled at her. This smile was a genuine smile, one that reached his eyes, not his Host Club smile. Matsuri couldn't help but think that he was handsome when he smiled, truly smiled. "I'll be sure to invite you out sometime during the summer."

"I look forward to it," she replied gently.

The limo took a turn on to the long driveway that led up to her estate. Out of the window, she could see the perfectly cut grass and the evenly trimmed hedges that ran along the side of the driveway. Some of the flowers had started to bloom in the hedges, carefully carving their way out of the leaves. Ahead of them was her large estate. A large two story home with a hipped tiled roof and a traditional Japanese feel. The black limo pulled into the circle at the end of the driveway and stopped.

Kyoya pushed the limo door opened and offered his hand to her to help her step out. She took it lightly, her fingertips warming in his hand against the chilly night air. A breeze blew between them tousling her hair. He reached up to brush her hair behind her ear, the tips of his fingers brushing against her cheek and down her jaw.

"I had a good time tonight," Kyoya-kun," she confessed as she brought her eyes up to his.

"As did I."

He was surprised that he could say these lines, the ones that he used while performing his Host Club duties, to someone and actually mean them. It was easy to do when he didn't mean it, there was no vulnerability there. However, with her there was. She could not feel the same as he did. He was vulnerable with her and he did not like that. And yet, he continued to spend time with her…

Matsuri was quiet, not knowing what to say. She was dragging this on. She didn't want their time together to end, and yet she was at home. "Thank you for a memorable night, Kyoya-kun," she said with a slight bow. "I truly enjoyed myself, but I must bid you a good night."

"Goodnight," he echoed.

Matsuri turned away from him and started on the pathway that led to the house.

"Matsuri-chan."

As quickly as she had turned away from him she turned to face him. "Yes?" She noticed that he had taken several steps away from his previous spot and was standing very close to the limo.

"I forgot to tell you that you look lovely tonight," he told her.

"Thank you, Kyoya-kun," she told him as a blush started to creep across her face. "You look handsome, as always."

He smiled again, another genuine smile, and bowed to her, letting her leave with no more conversation. She turned away from him, just as her blush deepened. Finally, she reached the door, and stepped into the genkan. She chanced a glance over her shoulder to see if Kyoya was still there. He'd apparently moved into the limo, because he wasn't standing outside anymore. The corners of her lips turned upward as she waved at the limo, knowing he would see her, and the closed the door to the genkan. As she did, she heard the limo pull away.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading this chapter. It's hard to believe, but I've almost run out of prewritten chapters for this story. I have one more already completed and then another in the works. I guess I've been updating pretty quickly. Anyway, please leave a review and let me know what you think of the story. Things are really starting to spark with Kyoya and Matsuri, right?

 **~ Nikki**


	9. Chapter 9

Between running tennis practices and school, the end of term had managed to sneak up on Kinjo Matsuri. Before she knew it she was sitting in class on the last week of school for the first part of term. The Sensei had been going on about something pertaining to the Shogun period, at least that's what she thought the lecture was about. She couldn't quite make herself focus on the lecture at hand, Instead, her honey brown eyes kept traveling to the stack of papers on the Sensei's desk. At the start of class, he'd announced that he had finished grading the final exams and that the new class rankings had been calculated. He said that he would hand back the tests at the end of class.

The Sensei's eyes found the clock as he brought his lecture to an end. The students in the class started to pack away their belongings; tucking pens into the pockets of their backpack and zipping notebooks away. The students had even begun to talk among themselves. Matsuri had taken to quietly drumming her fingernails on the desk as the Sensei walked around the room placing the exams, face down, on the desks. As soon as he placed them down the students flipped over their exams looking at their grades.

"Kinjo-san," the Sensei said to her as he placed her exam face down on her desk.

Matsuri's fingers twitched over the exam, before folding her hands together on her lap. Her honey brown eyes focused in on the blank piece of paper before her as she tried to will herself to flip the exam over. However, she couldn't make herself do it. She had not been as prepared for the exam as she had wanted to be. Therefore, she was convinced that she didn't move forward in the rankings, but instead she had moved down. Matsuri hung her head, her hair curtaining her face from her classmates. How was she going to explain her falling in class ranking to her father? Or even her mother?

"What?!"

Matsuri's head snapped up at the sound of Doi Sakura's voice. Sakura was looking down at her exam paper with wide eyes. After a moment, she turned her wide and now panicked eyes to Matsuri, who flinched at the intensity of her gaze. Matsuri turned her eyes back to the exam on her desk, fully aware that everyone was watching her. From the corner of her eye, she saw the light glinting off of something. She turned her attention to her peripheral, without turning her head, and met Ootori Kyoya's gaze from the corner of her eye. The light was blocking her seeing his eyes. Her slender hand reached out and flipped the exam over.

 _Shū._

Matsuri flipped the exam back face down quickly.

"What did you get, Kinjo?" Sakura questioned, her voice shaking.

"I, uh." Matsuri felt her face begin to turn red as she tried to find a way to tell her classmate her grade.

"Is it higher than yū?" Sakura questioned again.

She'd earned a yū? Matsuri bit down on the corner of her lip, trying to keep the smile from coming to her face. It wouldn't be at all polite to rub her better grade in her classmate's face. However, she had surpassed her. After spending all term trailing behind her ever-so-slightly, she had finally caught up to her. She'd caught up to her and surpassed her.

She was second in class now.

"What did you get, Kinjo?" the girl questioned again. Her worry multiplying as the raven haired girl remained silent.

"I think that it is fair to say that Kinjo-san has passed you in the class rankings, Doi-san," Kyoya supplied lazily, keeping Matsuri from having to speak. A knight in shining armor.

Sakura was silent for a long time as her eyes started to water. "Well, congratulations, Kinjo-san."

"Thank you, Doi-san," Matsuri replied as she bowed her head.

Before an awkward aura could settle over the room, the bell rang, Releasing them from class. Sakura was out of the room, before any of her friends could console her. They looked over their shoulders, not wanting Matsuri to think that they wished her ill for overtaking their friend. However, Matsuri understood. She wouldn't have wanted them to stay and congratulate her. It would have been awkward. Instead, she continued to sit in her seat, slowly packing her things away. Gently, she flipped her exam over and looked at the kanji on the paper. _Shū._ She was so sure that she had done poorly on the exam.

"Congratulations, Matsuri-chan."

She looked up away from the kanji on the paper and up towards Kyoya. He was towering over her with a knowing smirk on his lips. Matsuri started to say something to him about it, but decided against it.

"Thank you, Kyoya-kun," she told him as she continued to pack her belongings into her bag.

"Matsuri-chan," he started, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Yes?" she questioned as she stood, shouldering her bag.

"The Host Club is having a summer ball for the end of term," he explained. From the expression on his face, she could tell that he was picking his words carefully.

"I see," she replied cautiously, not really knowing where this conversation was going. She was aware of the ball at the end of term. She and Ami had gone to look at dresses for Ami last weekend, but had not settled on anything. However, the ball was only a few days away.

"Will you be in attendance?" he questioned as he gestured to the door and started to walk out of the classroom.

"I had not planned on it."

"I would like for you to attend," he told her. Matsuri opened her mouth to speak, but he continued quickly so to stop her. "I would like you to attend and designate me as your Host for the night."

Matsuri tilted her head to the side as they walked, unsure of what he meant. He wanted her to request him for an entire night? "Why?"

Kyoya's steps faltered when she questioned him. He had not expected her to question his request, simply say yes or no. He cleared his throat. "I enjoy spending my time with you."

Matsuri's face flushed a bright red before she could do anything to confront his confession. He enjoyed spending his time with her? It was no mystery that she enjoyed spending her time with him. He challenged her, but made her smile too. However, she had not expected him to confess to the fact that he enjoyed her company as well. No matter how obvious it was to others.

"Will you oblige?" he asked her quietly as they came to a stop near Music Room #3. She hadn't realized that they had walked this far.

The ball would be at the end of the week, on Friday night. Would she have enough to get a dress? She'd also have to see if Eri could come and do her hair and makeup. There was a lot that went into preparing for an event.

"Yes."

However, it didn't seem that it mattered all that much. He enjoyed spending time with her.

He smiled at her, bowing a bit as he started to enter Music Room #3 to start Club functions. Before she could stop herself, or process what was happening, she reached out to him, grabbing his wrist as he turned away from her. Kyoya stopped and turned his gaze to her small hand which was encircling his wrist.

"You want me to designate you all night?" she questioned quietly, making sure that she had clarity.

Kyoya removed her hand from his wrist, gently but easily breaking her hold on him. He then brought his thumb to her chin forcing her to look at him. His grey gaze locked in on her honey brown eyes. "Yes. All night. Every dance, every conversation will be yours."

She was sure that her face was now somewhere near beet red, but she couldn't make herself look away. "Aren't the Hosts supposed to float among the student body? Not…" she paused trying to find the correct word, "belonging to any one person?"

He chuckled as he took his thumb from under her chin, but didn't break her gaze. "That is generally how it works, but you forget Miss. Kinjo, I am Vice President, I can change that if I so please."

"And why do you so please?"

Kyoya tucked his hands into his pockets as a smirk crossed his lips. "I enjoy spending my time with you."

With that he turned away from her and entered Music Room #3.

* * *

"And you just said yes?"

Ito Ami had been questioning her friend about her conversation with Ootori Kyoya for as long as they had been in the dress shop. Matsuri was doing her best to ignore her friend's repeated questions as she moved about the store, looking through the racks. She wasn't looking for anything too flashy. However, that was exactly what Ami was pulling off the racks. Bold dresses with intricate beading and designs. Matsuri turned down every dress that Ami selected. It was too much. She just wanted something simple.

"Mat-sur-i!" Ami called, dragging out every syllable of her friend's name. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Desperately trying not to do so," Matsuri confirmed as she continued to push through the rack of dresses.

"I need you to explain what happened!" Ami whined.

Matsuri sighed as she continued her dress shopping. "I told you already. He asked if I would designate him for the night. I told him I would. End of story." Her fingers moved so rapidly across the rack that she had to back track. Her eyes settling on a dress that was deep salmon. "Nothing romantic."

"He asked you to designate him for an entire event," Ami continued. "That's romantic for the Shadow King."

Matsuri's frowned at the use of Kyoya's nickname. "He just asked me to spend the event with him. He didn't declare his undying love or anything," she continued to stroke the deep salmon fabric as she spoke, "It's nothing." She pulled the dress off the rack and folded it over her arm, before taking it to the register.

"Wait! I didn't see that one! It looks so simple. Matsuri!" Ami whined loudly.

"That's because it is," Matsuri called over her shoulder. "You should get the green one," the raven haired girl replied. "It'll look nice on you."

Ito Ami looked at the dress hanging on the rack next to her. The dress was a deep green. She had liked it, but she wasn't quite sure if the dress would look good on her. However, Matsuri had suggested it… So she pulled it off the rack and tailed Matsuri to the front of the store.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey! Thanks for reading! This was the last pre-written chapter that I have, so updates might be a little more than three ddays apart, just because of that. But I'm halfway-ish done with chapter ten, so yay! Things are starting to heat up between Matsuri and Kyoya, for real this time. What will happen at the Summer Ball in the next chapter? Let me know your guesses with a review. Or just review to say hi! Or review to let me know that you love it!

 **~ Nikki**


	10. Chapter 10

Once again, Kinjo Matsuri found herself seated at the vanity in her bedroom as Dan Eri pulled her fingers through her thick hair. Eri had just finished curling her raven locks and was in the process of making the curls looser. Matsuri's eyes were focused down on her fingers as she twiddled her thumbs on her lap. Usually, she and Eri would engross themselves in conversation, but she had other things on her mind today.

"Who's the boy?" Eri asked quietly as she gathered Matsuri's dark hair into a high ponytail. Matsuri's honey brown eyes flicked upward to meet Eri's in the mirror. "Who is he?'"

"I don't know what you are talking about," Matsuri said quietly as she let her eyes settle back on to her small hands.

"The boy. The one that asked you to this ball at the last minute-"

"It wasn't the last minute," Matsuri said quickly, unwittingly falling into Eri's trap by coming to Kyoya's defense. "I think that," she trailed off as her face started to turn red. "Oh."

"Who is he?" Eri questioned again with a triumphant smile on her lips.

Matsuri sighed deeply and bit the corner of her bottom lip. "His name is Ootori Kyoya. He's a boy in my year, top of the class." Matsuri gave a light shrug. "Handsome," she muttered under her breath trying to hide the blush creeping over her cheeks. Matsuri ducked her head to keep Eri from seeing her blushing.

"Ootori?" Eri asked. "As in Ootori medical group?" The younger girl nodded. "Oh, their family is full of good genes. The two eldest are quite handsome," Eri swooned. "I don't believe that I have seen the youngest. Does he look like his brothers?"

Matsuri shrugged again. Technically, he did. However, she never looked at him and saw that he looked like his brother's. Most times, she looked at him and didn't even see that he was an Ootori. He was just Kyoya. Just Kyoya. "I guess so."

Eri pulled the dress off the back of the door and handed it to Matsuri. The raven haired girl unzipped it and stepped into it. The dress she'd picked out was a strapless, floor length deep salmon color with a v neck. The natural waist sat softly at her waistline. The dress was simple, but beautiful. Especially couple with the long silver necklace that Eri had selected from her closest and earrings to match. Eri zipped the dress, closing Matsuri into it before placing the finishing touches on her hairstyle. It was nothing dramatic. Just a simple curled ponytail with a silver barrette clipped into it.

"Okay!" Eri exclaimed. "I'm done here. You look wonderful."

"Thank you so much for squeezing me in, Eri-chan," Matsuri said with a bow.

"Oh it's no problem," Eri said as she started out of the door. "Just one more thing." Matsuri offered a 'go on' look. "Do you like him?"

If it were possible, Matsuri's face turned a brighter shade of red. In an attempt to hide this, she ducked her head. Eri's question had startled her. She hadn't thought about it in such a blunt way. Did she like him? Sure, she liked talking to him. She liked spending her time with him, just as he liked spending his time with her. She also liked his eyes, the intense look in his eyes when he was working on calculations or when they were having a conversation. The way that the light reflected off his glasses, when he didn't want people to know what he was thinking. Or the way the corners of his lips would turn up when he found something amusing. She liked the sound of his smooth tenor voice. She definitely liked his taste in food. The way that he stood up for his friends.

Did she like him?

When she looked up, she realized that her room was empty. However, she gave her answer to the empty room. "Yes."

* * *

The grand staircase and the large landing area before it were decorated lavishly. There were several lanterns hanging from thin ropes attached on opposite sides of the room. The lights were off, leaving only the light from the lanterns to light the area. There were enough lanterns to brightly light the space. It took several moments for her eyes to adjust to the lighting in the space, however as soon as they did she was very pleased. No matter what anyone said, the Host Club knew how to decorate and throw a party. Before, she could continue to admire the decorations, she heard her name being called.

"Matsuri-hime."

She turned her honey-brown eyes towards the sound of Tamaki's voice. Souh had taken to calling her that whenever he saw her, no matter how often she had asked him to stop calling her that, and after a few times, she'd just given up telling him to stop.

"Tamaki," she greeted as he kissed her cheek.

"You look lovely," he told her as he took a step away from her to look over the dress she was wearing. "Simple, but elegant." He gave her a soft twirl. "Oh, let me introduce you to some people." He said clapping his hands.

Before she could say anything to object, Tamaki was dragging her, almost literally dragging her, towards someone or something, she wasn't even really sure who or what she was going to see.

"Matsuri-hime," he said again when they had stopped. "I'm not sure if you know these two gentlemen, they are former Host Club members," he stated. While she wasn't a patron of the Host Club before the start of the term, she was aware of their existence, and the fact that they had lost two members to graduation at the end of the pervious term. "This is Haninozuka Mitsukuni and Morinozuka Takashi."

Haninozuka-senpai was a short blonde boy with large eyes. From that she remembered Ami saying he was the Boy Lolita type that loved cake and was an expert in martial arts. He looked sweet enough. A bright smile on his face when Tamaki introduced him to the girl. Morinozuka-senpai was a tall boy, much taller than Haninozuka-senpai, with smaller dark eyes. He was the strong silent type, that was very clear to her. He looked down at her from his height and a soft smile came across his thin lips. Both boys, cousins if she remembered correctly, were dressed in black suits with white shirts. From Morinozuka-senpai's breast pocket was a deep blue rose and in Haninozuka-senpai's breast pocket was a pink rose.

"Suri-chan!" Haninozuka cheered as he hugged her.

Matsuri was startled, but she returned the hug. "Haninozuka-senpai, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"You can call me, Honey," he replied. "And you can call him Mori," Honey-senpai said as he gestured to the tall, lean boy beside him.

"Of course," she nodded, "Thank you, Honey-senpai, Mori-senpai."

"I'm glad the two of you could make it."

She felt her heart leap in her chest at the sound of that cool tenor voice. She needn't even turn to see who was speaking. She knew that voice. She would know it anywhere. However, she did turn to look at him. Ootori Kyoya stood behind her, dressed in an impeccable black suit with a lavender toned rose sticking out of his breast pocket.

"Kyo-chan," Honey-senpai exclaimed.

Matsuri couldn't help but smile at the affectionate name from Honey-senpai. She doubted that Kyoya really liked being called that, however, she knew that he would probably never say anything to the boy Lolita about it.

"I see you've met, Matsuri-chan," Kyoya continued coolly as his gaze fell on her. However, his gaze was not cool at all. Matsuri managed to hold the heated gaze for a moment however, she grew uncomfortable and looked away, blushing.

"Suri-chan?" Honey exclaimed as he took her hand. "She's very pretty in this color, isn't she?" His eyes first went to Mori-senpai, who nodded in agreeance. He then moved his eyes to Tamaki.

"She is indeed," Tamaki agreed.

Honey's eyes then fell on Kyoya. "Kyo-chan," Honey whined, clearly wanting Kyoya to compliment her. The girl blushed deeper, wanting Honey to stop what he was doing.

"She's quite pretty in any color," Kyoya answered, his intense gaze falling on her again.

"Thank you, Kyoya-kun," she replied quietly, trying to hide her embarrassment.

Honey's large eyes shifted between Kyoya and Matsuri, a knowing smile playing on his lips. "Do you have a date, Suri-chan?"

Matsuri's honey brown eyes flickered to Kyoya for the briefest of moments. However, her action didn't escape Honey's eyes. Kyoya's grey eyes fell on the girl and his eyebrow arched slightly waiting for her answer. "I, er," she started quietly.

"Are you without a date?" Tamaki questioned loudly, so loudly that several people turned to look his way and Matsuri wanted to make herself very small.

"No! No." The raven haired girl exclaimed loudly, waving her hands in front of her.

"She's requested me for the night," Kyoya's cool tenor voice said, saving her like some knight in shining armor.

Kyoya pulled his hand from his pocket and extended it towards her. Honey placed her hand in Kyoya's and smiled. "Have fun, Kyo-chan, Suri-chan!" Honey-senpai shouted as Kyoya escorted Matsuri away from the boys and towards the open dancefloor.

The three boys watched Kyoya and Matsuri for a moment. Taking note in how gentle he was with her, carefully placing his hands on her waist as they started to dance. The way that she leaned into his touch, almost unconsciously. "How long?" Honey questioned, turning his attention to Tamaki.

"Hmmm?" the violet eyed boy hummed as he watched Matsuri laugh at something that Kyoya said to her. "Oh, all term."

"Does he know?" Honey questioned again as Kyoya turned Matsuri.

"No," Mori answered for Tamaki.

"Does she know?" asked Honey.

"Maybe."

* * *

"He's friendly," Matsuri said quietly as she and Kyoya danced across the floor. Kyoya's eyebrow arched curiously, an action that she had learned meant go on. "I've never met anyone that would call me Suri-chan upon our first meeting. Not that it's a bad thing. My parents are the only ones that call me that."

"Honey-senpai is very personable. He likes people and people like him." Kyoya gestured towards where they had previously been standing. Honey was now surrounded by Ouran Academy girls, all of which apparently wanted a dance with him. One girl was even holding a piece of cake out to him. "He's got a charm about him."

Matsuri shrugged as their waltz continued. "He's sweet," she replied absentmindedly. She peeked over Kyoya's shoulder. "He picked the girl with the cake," she replied. "Um, Kanazuki Reiko," she continued.

"Yes," Kyoya mused as he looked in the direction of Honey and the girl. "She is quite fond of him. She speaks of him frequently."

"Does she?"

"She does," Kyoya said in a noncommittal tone.

"His cousin, Mori-senpai, he's sweet," Matsuri said to him.

Kyoya chuckled, the sound resonating in his chest. "He didn't say anything to you."

"I am a good judge of character," she told him with a bright smile.

Kyoya's fluid steps faltered, but he recovered quickly. "Are you?" he posed, spinning her away from him.

"Yes," was her answer as she twirled back into his chest. She looked up into his grey eyes. The intense look was still there. She was caught temporarily off guard, her breath catching in her throat and her face heating. It took everything in her to not stumble over her feet. "I'm hanging around with you still, aren't I?" she asked after she recovered.

"That you are."

"Kyoya-Senpai."

Matsuri look over his shoulder and into the brown eyes of Haruhi. "Yes?" Kyoya questioned to her, just barely glancing in her direction.

"Tamaki-senpai asked if you could help him and the twins with something, he didn't say what. He said that it would only take a moment and that he's sorry to pull you away from your, er, guest," Haruhi replied. Her hesitation didn't escape Matsuri's ears. What had she wanted to say? His date? "He said that I could keep her company if you like."

"Oh! I'd love a dance with Haruhi!" Matsuri exclaimed as she saw a hesitant look in Kyoya's eyes. "Go," she urged as she gently pulled away from him and stepped towards Haruhi. "I'll be here with Haruhi."

With that Kyoya left them.

"Matsuri-senpai," Haruhi said as bowed and took the lead as they danced. "It feels like forever since the last time we talked."

"Yes, I have been rather busy with tennis and school," Matsuri said. "Is it weird for you?"

"To lead? No, no, I'm used to it now." The two girls shared a laugh. "Sorry to pull you away from Kyoya-Senpai."

"Oh, it's okay. I didn't expect to have him all night," she told the younger girl. Suddenly, she blushed, not liking the wording of her sentence. "I mean, not that I had him at all. I just-"

She was cut off by Haruhi's laughter.

"I'm sorry. I just," Matsuri rolled her eyes, deciding that it was better to remain silent.

"You like him," Haruhi said knowingly. "I think he likes you as well, but Kyoya-Senpai is a very," she paused trying to pick the appropriate word, "unique person. He keeps things to himself, the way he feels mostly. He's hard to read. He's very calculated. I do think he likes you, though."

"Do you?"

"He asked you to designate him, didn't he?" Haruhi said, her eyes knowing. "Oh, here he comes."

"Matsuri-chan," his cool tenor voice greeted. "Come with me."

It was posed as a question, but the way he said it had no upward inflection to it. She and Haruhi exchanged a subtle glance. A smile playing on Haruhi's lips as she placed Matsuri's hand in Kyoya's outstretched hand and bowed to her.

* * *

They ended up on a breezeway in the school, somewhere far away from the Ball but not too far away so that they could no longer hear the light music. They were positioned much like they had been on the balcony at Kinjo Technologies gala a few weeks ago. Her leaning her elbows on the railing looking down over the grounds. Him with his back leaning against the pillar next to her, his head turned towards the grounds giving the impression that he was looking at the gardens, but in all actuality he was watching her.

"You've abandoned your Host Club duties," she said conversationally.

"I have not."

"That's right," she said after a moment. "The goal of the Host Club is to make every girl at Ouran happy," she said with a teasing tone.

"That is correct."

Matsuri opened her mouth to speak, but movement on the ground beneath them caught her eye. Two students, a boy and a girl, had found their way outside into the gardens holding hands and laughing. The girl's eyes were bright and dancing. The boy's eyes were focused in on her, taking in her every motion. Feeling as if she were intruding on an intimate moment, she looked away.

"Are we doing a good job?" Kyoya asked when she looked towards him.

"Excuse me?"

"Are we doing a good job at making every girl at Ouran happy?"

His intense gaze was on her again, making her squirm. She wanted to look away, but she couldn't make herself do it. As uncomfortable as she was, she didn't want to look away. It was an intimate moment, of sorts, for them. Eye contact, direct eye contact, was form of vulnerability for Kyoya. It was rare that he wasn't hiding behind his lenses.

"I believe that the ladies of Ouran are happy," she replied quietly, not sure if she answered the question he was asking her.

"Good." He broke eye contact with her, looking out over the grounds.

"Kyoya-kun?" she questioned.

"Hmm?"

"Why did you ask me to designate you?"

A smirk ghosted over his lips. "I've told you, I enjoy spending my time with you."

"Yes, yes, I know. I just, why?"

"Why do I like spending time with you?"

"Yes."

He sighed, and she feared that she had crossed a line. "You're different. You don't want me to 'host' you. You've never asked me to host you. You talk about things that are above surface level. We've never had a conversation about what your favorite color is or which host you like the most. You're not like the girls here."

Matsuri was quiet for a few moments taking in what he had said. "I hate the color yellow. The school uniform ruined it for me. My favorite color is blue, navy blue." She saw a smile playing on the corner of his lips and she took it as a sign to continue. "Which Host do I like the most?" She brought her index finger to her lips as she thought. "Well, Tamaki is a little out there. The twins are a little attached to each other, ne? Haruhi, well, let's just say I don't think I'm _his_ type." She shrugged. "That's everyone right?"

"Yes, that's everyone."

The raven haired girl laughed and looked over at him. "What about that Shadow King guy?"

"He's not that important," Kyoya replied with a shrug. His voice was distance, like he was somewhere else.

"Oh, well, I quite like spending my time with him, and I don't waste my time on people that are not important."

Kyoya took a quick step towards her, startling her into taking a step back, pinning her against the pillar behind her. His hands on either side of her body. The space between their bodies was minimal, she could feel the heat radiating off him. She was sure that he could feel her heart beating under her dress. He had that look in his eyes. The look that he'd been giving her all night. That heated, intense gaze. She wanted to shrink away, but couldn't.

"Kyoya-kun-"

"You have to understand that this is difficult for me," he confessed quietly. "I can't calculate things with you. You're variable that I cannot control for." He leaned closer to her, his breath on her cheek. "You never seem to fit into the equation. You do the opposite of what I calculate." She inhaled slowly, taking in his scent and the closeness of his body. Unconsciously, she tilted her head up. And for the briefest of moments, their lips touched, brushing against each other gently. Her bottom lip catching briefly between his lips. Kyoya backed away from her suddenly, running his fingers through his hair. There was a small smirk on his lips. "I'm sorry, Matsuri-chan." His voice was shaky. "We should head back."

Matsuri nodded and started off with Kyoya, walking back to the party. Had they kissed? Her lips tingled from the brief contact. Had she kissed him? Surely, it wasn't an intentional action. She'd just tilted her head up. Had he kissed her? It had all happened so fast.

* * *

The rest of the night was a bit awkward, to say the least. Kyoya stayed true to his word. He only danced with her. However, when he did he held her a little further away. They were usually in sync when they danced, moving together. But now, they were off. He'd start a turn and she'd miss the cue, causing her to stumbling over her feet. The conversation between them was sparse. Very surface level. So when Honey-Senpai asked his if he could cut in, Matsuri was beyond excited.

"What's wrong with Kyo-chan?" he questioned.

Of course he had wanted to talk about that. "I'm not sure," she answered honestly.

"He likes you," Honey told her, a serious look crossing his face.

Matsuri sighed. "So I've been told."

"He told you?" Honey questioned, the smile returning on to his face again.

"No; Haruhi, she told me."

Honey-Senpai didn't looked the least bit shocked by her knowledge of Haruhi's actual gender. "Do you like him?" Matsuri didn't respond, instead, she looked away. "You should tell him."

"How?" she said aloud, though she'd meant to keep it as an exasperated internal thought.

"He's not that hard to talk to. Especially, if he thinks that you are important to him. He's loyal," Honey told her with a smile. "I think you're good for him."

"You hardly know me," she told him.

"I'm a good judge of character."

Honey-senpai spotted Kyoya in his peripheral and released her back to him. Honey gave her an encouraging smile before he left them.

"What did you and Honey-senpai discuss?" he questioned.

"Nothing at all," she replied, unable to find the courage to tell him.

The night continued the way it had been going before Honey had come to dance with her. Sparse conversation and distanced, out of sync dancing.

* * *

When the night ended, Matsuri had to say that she was glad for it. As much as she had wanted to do what Honey-Senpai and Haruhi had told her to, she couldn't. She wasn't able to place the words together. Whenever, she would open her mouth to speak, Kyoya would look down at her, his grey eyes hidden by the light reflecting off his glasses. She'd caught a glimpse of his grey eyes at one point during the night, and she wasn't pleased with what she saw. His gaze was very distant, as if he were somewhere else.

They had separated ten minutes earlier; he'd left her to go help Tamaki with something or other. Kyoya bowed to her and kissed the back of her hand. He'd said that he had enjoyed the night; however, there was something in his tone that she didn't quite buy. However, she left it alone and bid him a goodnight. After he left her, walking away with his hands in his pockets, she'd called her driver to let him know to pull around front.

"Matsuri-chan."

She turned on the heel of her shoe in the direction of the smooth, cool, tenor voice. Kyoya was walking towards her at a quick pace, with that look in his eye. Before she could respond to him calling out to her, he placed his right hand on her cheek, left hand on her hip, and pressed his lips to hers. There was no question of if they kissed or of who kissed who. He had kissed her with such a force that if he had not been holding on to her waist, she would have stumbled backward. His hand fell from her cheek and tangled in the loose ends of her ponytail, giving a slight tug, eliciting a light gasp from her lips. Her hand fisted against the fabric of his suit jacket as he pulled her closer to him.

He broke the kiss first. Breathlessly, he took a step back from her. Gently, her hand unclenched from his suit jacket and fell to her side. He reached into his breast pocket and plucked the rose out of it. He twisted the lavender rose stem between his thumb and index finger. He then took a step towards her, closing the gap between them again.

"I'm sorry, Matsuri-chan," he said, his voice sill breathless.

"You don't need to," she cleared her throat, "apologize."

A smirk played on his lips. He reached over and tucked the lavender rose behind her ear. "I did have a good time tonight."

She believed him this time. "I had a good time as well, Kyoya-kun." He looked over his shoulder back towards the school, and she realized that he did really have to help Tamaki with something. "You should go back to help them."

Kyoya nodded, pushing his hands into his pockets. "I'll be in touch," he said to her. He pulled his phone from his pocket, as if to show her the way that he would be contacting her. He then tucked it back into his pocket. "Goodnight, Matsuri-chan."

"Goodnight, Kyoya-kun."

* * *

 **A/N:** Bam! There it is, crazyangelgirl21 called it. Also, I'm a very predictable human being that lives for romance and whatever. So yeah. Fun fact: this chapter is 10 pages long. I thought about splitting it in half, but I couldn't find a good stopping point. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, just because I don't see Kyoya as being romantic here. I think that he's almost frustrated with her, because she's not fitting into the equation. So now that school is out for a few months, what will happen with Kyoya and Matsuri? Who knows? Leave a review with your guesses!

 **~ Nikki**


	11. Chapter 11

After the term ended, the Ouran Academy Tennis team went into a period of intense training. They spent six days on the courts running drill after drill, training themselves to hit whatever ball came their direction. If they weren't on the court, they were inside in the gym lifting weights to strengthen their muscles. There was also running, lots and lots of running, building up the team's stamina. At the end of those six, long days, she was beyond excited to send the team home and finally get a start to her summer vacation.

Her vacation officially started when she arrived at her mother's house; the day after she'd released the team for their own vacation period. She'd arrived at her mother's two story traditional home and received the same welcome as always. She'd get out of her limo and her mother would come charging down the walkway to embrace her in a lung crushing, back breaking hug. She'd then assist Matsuri in carrying her suitcases, two this year, into the house. From there her mother's butler, Gorou, would come and take the bags from them. He'd offer them tea, which her mother always declined for the both of them, and instead moved her back outside so that they could wander about the grounds and 'catch up'. The catching up mostly consisted of her mother telling her about her new musical endeavors. The most recent of them being her recording her own cd, one that she was putting the finishing touches on over the summer and would cause her to be away from the house for some portions of the day. Then they moved on to talking about Matsuri. Her mother was quick to congratulate her on become second in class and even joked about her becoming first. Matsuri didn't reveal that she was sure that she would never becoming first in class, instead, she simply nodded and laughed along with the teasing. They talked about tennis, but Matsuri was not really keen on keeping with that line of conversation seeing as she'd just spent nearly a week with the team.

"So no boy?" her mother questioned with a teasing tone in her light voice.

The question, while it was expected, caught her off guard. For as many years as she could remember, her mother asked about a boy, and for as many years as she could remember, she always said there was no boy. However, would that be completely truthful this time. There was a boy, right? Ootori Kyoya. Since the night at the summer ball, she wasn't quite able to shake Kyoya from her thoughts. To make matters worse, whenever she thought of him her lips would tingle; just as they were doing now. She bit down on her bottom lip to give some extra stimulation to block out the tingling. There was a boy. But a boy that she hadn't heard from since the night of their kiss.

When he said that he would be in touch, she figured that he didn't mean that same day. That might have been asking a little much. However, she did expect to hear from him within the weekend. She'd spent several hours of her Saturday trying to read a book for leisure, but every time her phone vibrated she jumped to look at it. Only to be disappointed when she saw that it was someone other than Kyoya, mostly Ami.

"Matsuri," her mother called out to her again.

Matsuri's honey brown eyes flicked over to her mother to let her know that she had heard her question. "No boy," she confirmed.

It wasn't a lie, right?

* * *

Just as her mother had said, Kinjo Rei spent most of her days away from the house. She would wake up early, eat breakfast, and leave; sometimes even before Matsuri was awake. She would then return in the early afternoon, insisting that they go shopping and have girl time. Matsuri complied of course, not wanting to say no to her mother. So most days, they went to boutique like stores and bought dresses and outfits, then they would get a bite to eat at a place of her mother's choosing, because she knew about the area and the food. Their evenings were spent in the living room, watching movies or just talking.

After a couple of days of sleeping in, she woke up a little earlier. Her mother was surprised to see her daughter up that early, a teasing tone lacing in her voice, when Matsuri sat down at the table. Matsuri had decided that she would be going to the beach. It would be a nice change in scenery and it would be a nice place to catch up on her reading. Rei had agreed, saying that she would meet her daughter out there later for a quick bite to eat.

That was how she ended up, lounging on a blue and white striped beach towel with a book. Her goal for the summer vacation was to finish off several of the books that she had been trying to read over the past few terms. As of now, she was still reading the first one. She'd hoped that the sun's rays would give her some extra energy, that she could turn into motivation, to finish out the book. Instead, she was so relaxed that she had closed the book on her thumb and allowed the sun's rays to warm her skin.

"Matsuri-Senpai."

A smile played on her lips at the sound of a familiar voice. She'd feared that while she was spending time with her mother that she wouldn't run into anyone that she knew. However, it had only taken a few days to prove her wrong. It wasn't like her mother lived far from her father and her friends, her fear was irrational. Standing just to the left of her was Fujioka Haruhi in a pair of long shorts and a tee shirt.

"Haruhi," she greeted. "Sit, sit," Matsuri commanded as she moved over on the towel to make room for the other girl.

"I don't want to disturb you!" Haruhi said.

"Nonsense! You'll distract me from the fact that I'm too distracted to finish this book," Matsuri teased. "Come on!"

Haruhi gave in and settled down on the towel next to Matsuri. "How is your vacation going so far? I know that you had tennis last week, so you're really just starting."

The raven haired girl nodded. "I am just starting my vacation," she agreed. "I'm staying with my mom for a little bit before heading back to my dad's. So far it's been shopping with my mom and eating and talking," Matsuri answered with a light shrug. "How is yours?"

"I'm working in Karuizawa again this summer, but I have the day off. I decided to come here and relax," Haruhi responded. "The beach is so nice."

"Yes it is."

They were quiet as they watched the waves lightly crashing on to the shore. Letting the sound relax them with the aid of the sun's rays.

"Matsuri-Senpai?" Haruhi said, breaking the silence between them. In response, Matsuri tilted her head so that she could see Haruhi from the corner of her eye. "May I ask what happened at the Summer ball with Kyoya-Senpai?"

Matsuri arched her eyebrow at the question. She hadn't even told Ami what happened at the Ball. Mostly because as much as she loved Ami and cherished her friendship, Ito Ami was a terrible gossip. However, Haruhi didn't strike her as the type. She seemed to be genuinely interested. That and this was probably the only girl talk that she got, seeing as everyone at school still thought that she was a boy.

"What would you like to know?" she questioned carefully.

"Whatever you would like to tell me."

So she told her everything. She told her what happened on the breezeway. She'd told her about the awkward dancing and forced conversations. Haruhi commented that she had noticed something was off about them, but she couldn't pin point what, or who, it was. Kyoya had been composed as usual, were her exact words. Matsuri told her about her dance with Honey-Senpai, who had told her to confess her feelings to Kyoya, and how she had been completely unable to do it. She told her about the kiss, the actual kiss. Then she told her about how she hadn't heard from him since.

"Kyoya-Senpai has been a little hard to get into contact with for the past several days. You know, the Ootori Medical Group is having a business conference in a few days. I think, from what I could gather, that he's in charge of the event and overseeing everything."

"Oh?" Matsuri said quietly, taking in this new information.

"Yeah," Haruhi agreed. "He almost didn't come to the Ball, but Tamaki made him, he's a host after all, so he had to be there. So he said that If he had to be there, he wanted you to designate him, so to save him 'the painfully boring conversations' that he knew he would have. But after that he needed to finish the event."

"Oh."

"Did you think that he was ignoring you?" Haruhi teased. However, when Matsuri didn't answer immediately, Haruhi frowned. "He wouldn't do that. You've had tennis and he's had the event. You're important to him," Haruhi assured.

Matsuri felt a little differently about what had happened between them after talking with Haruhi. She hadn't looked at the situation from all angles. She'd only looked at in a way that involved her having hurt feelings.

"How was it?" Haruhi questioned a curious expression on her face.

Matsuri laughed. "Kissing the Shadow King, you mean? It was nice."

"You know, I'm glad that you came to the club. It's very subtle, but he's different. We can all see it."

* * *

After spending all afternoon with Haruhi, just talking about whatever came to mind, Matsuri promised that she would come and visit Haruhi in Karuizawa before school started. She'd genuinely enjoyed her time with Haruhi. It was fun to just sit and talk about any and everything. What was going to happen after graduation, the weather, their friends, anything. She was sure that she would have to do this again. So sure that she had demanded that Haruhi text her on her next day off and she would be sure to meet up with her and have lunch or go shopping; something fun.

The rest of the day had passed without incident. She and her mother had eaten and talked. Then they had returned to her house. Saying that she had to get up early, her mother went to bed before 8, leaving Matsuri alone with her book. She'd finally managed to finish it out, and found herself very unsatisfied with the way that the book ended. It just left everything up to the reader's interpretation. Despite the poor ending, she was very satisfied with the fact that she had indeed finished the book. She marked it off the list and selected another to start in on right away.

However, she found herself distracted by the information that she'd had received from Haruhi about Kyoya. Every now and then, her eyes would travel over to her cell phone. Curiously, she would pick it up and flip it open, only to see that there were no missed calls or text messages. She was just looking at her background picture. She'd then close it and place it a little further away from her, in hopes that she could put it out of sight and out of mind. However, she was unsuccessful and they cycle continued.

The last time she looked at the phone was at _1:23 am_. She'd grown tired, although she wasn't sure if it was from reading or from her continuously waiting for her cell phone to ring. Annoyed with having to wait, and feeling slightly empowered by the book she was reading, she opened her phone and scrolled through her contacts before settling on Kyoya's name. Before she could change her mind, she hit call and brought the phone to her ear. She'd fully expected the phone call to go to voicemail and she had planned out what she wanted to say.

"Ootori," he answered in a sharp, cold tone.

She had not expected him to answer the phone. She glanced at the clock, making sure that it was indeed as late as she thought that it was. What was he still doing up? From his side of the line, she could hear the faint sounds of the keys on his keyboard clacking and the ruffling of papers.

"Kyoya-kun."

The papers stopped rustling and the typing stopped. She could hear him take the phone away from his ear, possibly to look at the caller id. "Matsuri-chan," he greeted, his tone much softer. She decided then and there that she liked his tenor voice better when it was soft and smooth.

"Were you expecting someone else at this hour?" she questioned.

"This hour?" he replied.

"It's one thirty," she answered.

The typing that had started again, slowed. "What are you doing up at this hour?" he asked.

"Haruhi told me that you were planning your father's business conference this year." Kyoya grunted in agreeance, his typing pace picked up again. "How is that working for you?"

"The caterers are not prepared, the venue may not be ready," he listed off. It seemed as if he could have continued, but didn't. The sound of papers moving greeted her ears. "I don't really want to discuss it," his tone was flat.

"Oh."

"How was tennis?" he posed, typing again.

Matsuri shrugged. "It was good. We had a strong foundation, and we just built off of it. I think it was a good use of time." She paused. "Do you really want to know about tennis?"

"I don't ask about things I don't want to know the answer too," he told her, she could almost hear the smirk in his voice.

"Right."

They were quiet for a moment. The only sound on the line sound being Kyoya's typing and the occasional turning of a page. In the silence, she taken to reading her book again. Completely comfortable with the silence between the two of them.

"Matsuri-chan."

"Yes."

"Would you like to get breakfast with me?" he questioned. She heard the chair he was sitting in squeaking as he leaned back into it.

"Breakfast?"

"Yes, the first meal eaten during the day," he informed her. She could definitely hear the smirk in his voice now.

"I know what breakfast is."

"So would you?" he asked again.

"When?"

"Now."

Matsuri looked over at the clock with an amused expression on her face, _2:05 am_. "Kyoya-kun, it's two in the morning."

"A chocolate croissant always taste the best at two am."

The raven haired girl stretched and swung her feet off the bed. "Yes. I would love to get breakfast with you."

* * *

 **A/N:** Hi! Thank for reading! Let me know what you think with a review, or just say hi!

 **~ Nikki**


	12. Chapter 12

It had been surprisingly easy to slip out of her mother's house at two-thirty in the morning. She'd stepped out into the dark hallway, holding a pair of shoes in her hand. Looking down towards her mother's room, she could just make out the sound of her mother's slow breathing through the cracked door. Carefully, she started down the hallway and staircase. She skillfully avoided the third and fifth stairs, that squeaked with the tiniest bit of pressure. Finally, she was standing in the genkan, putting on her shoes and stepping out of the house. The night air was chilly and goosebumps formed on her skin as she walked around the house and to where the cars were parked. As uncommon as it was for someone of her upbringing and family stature, Kinjo Matsuri had obtained her driver's license, and didn't need to be driven around at all times. This is one of the times that this had come in handy. Matsuri unlocked the small, black car that her mother had given her the keys to upon her arrival and slipped into it.

The drive to Gontran Cherrier Shinjuku, the bakery that they had decided to meet at, was quite nice. It was also fairly short. Kyoya had expertly selected a location that was almost directly between their two locations. She'd passed an area where she could faintly hear the ocean waves crashing on the shore. The faint sound of laughter greeted her ears as she came into a more populated area. She passed night clubs, where many people were getting into taxis – some more willing than others. The bakery was a little further past the night clubs. The night activity had lessened when the bakery came into view. It was sparsely populated. Not that she expected there to be many people at a bakery at three am.

She parked easily and then stepped out of her car. Tucking her hair behind her ear and looking down at her phone to see if Kyoya had sent her anything while she was driving.

"Matsuri-chan," his smooth tenor voice greeted.

Matsuri turned around quickly, startled by his voice. She swept her hair from her face, trying to lower her heartrate, as she looked at him. Ootori Kyoya was normally a very put together gentleman. His shirts were always ironed to perfection and each of his dark black hairs was brushed into place flawlessly. However, he looked a bit less perfect tonight. There were faint wrinkles in the fabric of his white button down shirt. The first few buttons on his shirt were unbuttoned, exposing the sharp angles of his collar bone and the pale skin that his shirt usually hid. His hair was also a little ruffled, as if he had been running his fingers through it. Despite his appearances imperfections, she still found him as handsome as ever. Perhaps more so.

"Kyoya-kun," she replied with a soft bow.

"Shall we go in?"

Without waiting for her to answer, he started towards the entrance with his hands shoved into his pockets. She followed him without question. They entered the bakery and were immediately greeted by the smell of baking bread and sweets. She smiled as she inhaled the scents around her. Kyoya had taken a seat at a booth, ordered a cup of coffee, and was watching her by the time that she stopped taking in the scent of the bakery and settled into the booth across from him. The girl folded her hands in her lap as he took a sip of the steaming beverage.

"Little early for that, isn't it?" she questioned, but then tilted her head to the side, a confused expression on her face. "Late for it?"

The corners of his lips upturned slightly as he brought the mug away from his lips. "I've still got somethings that need to be taken care of."

The waitress returned and asked what Matsuri would like. She ordered a cup of tea. The waitress left the table and their conversation resumed.

"Did you get the caterer and the venue sorted out?"

He nodded. "Yes, I did. I finished a phone call on the way here."

"At three in the morning, Kyoya-kun?" She seemed a bit outraged that he would be speaking to anyone at this early/late hour.

"Business never sleeps," he replied with a shrug.

The waitress returned with her tea.

"Why are you awake at this hour?" Kyoya questioned as she brought the cup to her lips.

"I was reading," she replied as she placed the mug on the table.

"School work over summer vacation?" he questioned. However, there was something new in his tone. Was he teasing her?

"No, no, reading for fun," she replied. They were quiet for a moment. It was then that she realized that the conversations ball was still in her court. She hadn't said anything that had peaked his interest. "My mother was quite pleased with my advance in class standing."

"Was she?" he muttered.

"Yes, she even said that I would soon hold the number one place in the class if I kept working hard enough."

Kyoya's thin eyebrow arched as he lowered his coffee cup from his mouth. There was a clear smirk on his lips as his grey gaze met hers. His eyes were tired, but the intensity was not missing. A chill ran down her spine as she continued to hold his gaze. After a moment, the intense gaze was replaced with a curious look. "You plan on overtaking me?"

"I'm sure that I couldn't even if I wanted to," Matsuri responded.

The waitress reappeared carrying two small plates and placed them on the table in front of the two students. She asked if they needed anything else and Kyoya shook his head and muttered a no. Casting another glance at Kyoya, not the first that Matsuri had noticed, she nodded and left them alone again.

"Is that what you told your mother?"

"Hmm?"

"That if you wanted to you couldn't."

"No, I told her that I was well on my way to becoming first in class." She hoped that her tone was teasing.

Kyoya watched her as she pulled at her croissant, ripping it in two and the chocolate oozing from the middle. "Tell me about your mother," he said.

Matsuri rolled her eyes. "Kyoya-kun, I know that you have done your research, you probably know more about my mother than I do."

To that, Kyoya laughed. "You are probably right, but humor me."

Matsuri popped a piece of the croissant into her mouth while she thought. "My mother is a violinist, top tier violinist. She's played in many orchestras and concert halls. She's quite good at it."

"Tell me about your mother," Kyoya interrupted, "does not mean give me her biography."

Matsuri rolled her eyes again and placed her elbows on the table. "She's kind and funny. She tries a little hard, because she left us. She tries to bond with me a lot and do things with me when I come here, you know to make up for lost time." She folded her hands together and placed her chin on top of her now intertwined fingers. "I don't dislike her for leaving, if you're wondering. For the longest, I was just confused as to why she didn't take me with her. I understand now. It would have been a fall in stature and I would have lost my friends, but I was eight, that didn't matter to me. I suppose I have a pretty neutral feeling towards her if we are being quite honest. I don't dislike her, but she's not my favorite person, you know."

"It's nice to have someone that tries though," Kyoya commented under his breath. He hadn't meant for her to hear him, but from the expression on her face, he knew that she had. He also knew that she would want him to continue his line of thought. "As you know, I am the youngest of three. I feel like I have to work three times as hard for my father to notice me, to notice that I am able, capable, to manage the company."

"He put you in charge of the conference," she commented.

"Yes. I'm sure it's more of a test if anything," he said. "He wants to see how I work under pressure. He only gave me two weeks to plan an event that should have been planned over a four-month time span." Was that a hint of bitterness in his voice?

"Is everything settled?"

"Yes. I got the venue problem sorted out before I left. I was emailing the owner when you called. The caterers are settled. The guest list has been printed. Seating arrangements have been decided. That leaves me," he glanced down at the watch on his wrist, "56 hours, give or take a few, for last minute unexpected problems."

"You can't call them unexpected if you are expecting them," Matsuri teased.

"As long as I expect them, I can plan for them."

"Have you planned for sleep?" she asked as she gestured towards the coffee cup.

"Yes, after the conference."

"You should get some sleep before that, Kyoya-kun. It's unhealthy to be awake for so long with no sleep."

Kyoya waved his hand, dismissing her concern for his sleeping habits, or in this case lack thereof. He would be fine, a few more days of work and last minute details and then he would be free to lounge around for a few days. "Will you be in attendance?" She shook her head immediately, seeing as she had just taken a bite of her pastry and her mouth was full. "Your father indicated a plus one."

"That's probably someone from the company, a Vice-president or someone of the like. It's not me." Kyoya looked disappointed, if only briefly. "Would you like me to attend?" she questioned with an arched eyebrow.

"You won't be interested in anything there," he told her. "Lots of talk of money and mergers and things like that."

Kyoya couldn't bring himself to tell her that he would like for her to attend the conference, however he wasn't sure why. She'd asked him if he wanted her to go and he couldn't tell her that he did. The conference was going to be boring, interested in the topics being discussed or not, so Matsuri wouldn't be alone in her boredom. In fact, if anything, she would make the event less boring – at least for him anyway. He'd wanted her to attend for purely selfish reasons, so he could talk to her and be in her presence, to further solidify their relationship – whatever it may be. But he couldn't make himself say it. His pride, his Ootori pride, was stopping him.

Matsuri let the topic drop, after seeing that he was not going to give her a straight forward answer. Instead, they allowed the conversation to take a lighter turn, discussing how Kyoya had managed to stumble across the bakery.

"Tamaki?" Matsuri laughed.

"Yes, he was determined to get a chocolate croissant; they remind him of home. He calls me at, around this time actually, tells me he's found a place and we have to go now. This was when I was trying to become 'friends' with him. So I came and met him here and he had at least twelve of these things before I even had one. He says 'Kyoya, you have to try them. Everything tastes better at 3 am'. So I did."

"Does it tastes better at three am?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I've never eaten here at any other time."

Matsuri glanced at the clock on the wall, regretting the action immediately. "It's that time already?" she questioned aloud. "I should head home before my mother notices that I'm gone."

"Did you sneak out?" he asked, clearly amused at the prospect.

"Well, didn't you?"

"My father doesn't care too much about what I do and where I go, so long as it brings no harm to the Ootori name. So no I didn't." Kyoya waved his hand to signal the waitress. She was a different one than before, but she still looked at Kyoya the same way the other one did. Kyoya did look handsome in his slightly disheveled state, so she didn't blame them for staring. Kyoya produced his card without some much as even looking in the waitress's direction.

The woman left and returned within five minutes.

"Are you prepared to leave, jailbird?" he questioned. The teasing was evident in his tone of voice and he even smiled at her as he stood and offered his hand to her. She took it, and for the first time, noticed how cold his hand felt in hers. "Poor circulation," he told her with a shrug, as if knowing what she was thinking.

His usually chilled hands were warmed instantly when she took his hand in hers. This might have been the first time that she noticed the coldness of his hands, but this was not the first time he noticed how warm hers were. Kyoya didn't release her hand, he told himself that the only reason being because she didn't release his. However, the nagging thought of liking how her hand felt in his persisted.

"Thank you for inviting me," she said as they started to walked towards her car.

Their linked hands hanging between them as they did.

"You are quite welcome," he replied.

"I hope I didn't distract you too much from your planning."

They were standing next to her car at this point. She'd leaned back against the driver side door and crossed her arms over her chest as she spoke.

"You do tend to distract me from important things," he told her.

Matsuri looked over at him, a response forming on her tongue. However, it died there as she looked into his steely grey eyes. He was standing in front of her, towering over her really, and looking down at her. The moonlight was dim, keeping the reflection off of his lenses so she could make uninterrupted eye contact with him. His eyes were trained on to her as he spoke to her.

"Nothing to say?" he asked her when she did not respond to him.

Matsuri opened her mouth to speak, but was unable to do so. The intensity of his gaze weighing on her heavily. Kyoya took a step towards her, closing the space between them. A shadow crossed over his face as he did so, almost completely concealing his eyes.

"No smart comment?" he continued.

The space between them was closed completely by now. He placed his hand under her chin and tilted her head upward.

"Or snide remark?"

An audible squeak came from her mouth as she tried desperately to speak while he was teasing her. She'd never been truly speechless, not until now. Not until she was standing pinned against her car with Kyoya's cool hand under her chin and looking up at him.

"Nothing, Matsuri-chan?"

Well, there was something that she wanted to say, but it wasn't a snide remark or smart comment. No, it was a simple two-word statement. However, she was still unable to find her voice. Carefully, she tried to form the words on her lips, but she'd only managed the faintest of whispers. From the look on Kyoya's face, the smirk that formed on his thin lips, she was sure that he heard her.

"What was that, Kinjo-san?" he questioned, using the formality as a way of teasing her. His hand moved up her jawline and casually twisted into her dark hair. He could feel her body heat against his body, circulating through him, warming his blood.

Matsuri licked her lips and exhaled slowly, trying to regain her voice. However, her statement came out as a whisper again. There was a glint in his eyes that let her know that he heard her. "Kiss me," she demanded in a quiet voice, although it was as loud as she could muster in the moment.

And he did.

Kyoya closed the remaining space between their lips almost as soon as she had told him to do so. One of his hands had wrapped around her wrist, holding it in place as his other hand tangled more roughly into her hair. He pressed her harder against the door of her car. The boy could feel her heart pounding – or was that his? He did feel quite warm all of a sudden. The warmth of her body coursing through him.

He pulled away from her, leaving her a bit breathless.

"Goodnight, Matsuri-chan," he said quietly, finding that it was indeed his heart that was pounding. He cleared his throat, his voice a bit huskier than he would have liked.

"Goodnight, Kyoya-kun," she echoed. Her voice was at its normal tone, but sounded much louder than she liked.

As he started away from her, he stopped and looked at her over his shoulder. "Thank you."

Before she could ask him exactly what he was thanking her for, he had slipped into a black car and closed the door.

A/N: Hey! I am so very sorry that it took so long to get this chapter up. I've been swimming in school work for the past week, and I just haven't had a free second to sit down and write. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. It got a little long and I wasn't quite sure how to end it. So I just ended it… Let me know what you think, with a review. Or just say hi. Or scold me for taking so long to update. (:

~ Nikki


	13. Chapter 13

Matsuri hadn't bothered Kyoya after their late night/early morning croissant outing. After hearing how overwhelmed he was, even though he never used that word, she thought it better to let him focus all of his concentration on the event at hand. After the event, she'd started to call him and see how it had gone., but she'd remembered that he said that he planned on sleeping after the conference had ended, seeing as he was neglecting that essential need in order to get the event up and running. Instead, she'd settled for sending him a text message. _Hope everything went well. Fill me in later._ She had not expected a response when she'd sent the message. Instead, she'd popped her phone on to the charger and went to take a bath. She'd picked her phone back up when she'd returned and saw that he'd replied almost immediately. _It went well. Thank you._ She'd rolled her phone in her hand for a moment debating on replying. Eventually she dropped her phone on the pillow without replying. When he was well rested, she trusted that he would reach out to her.

Instead, she had taken to spending her days in the city looking at boutiques and shopping, like most girls. Ami had even made her way to see Matsuri. The shorter girl was a bit upset, that being and understatement, about the fact that Matsuri had not called to tell her all the details of her 'date' with Kyoya at the Summer Ball. So Matsuri revealed those details, as well as the ones from their croissant outing, to her. Ami scowled at her for a long time after hearing the stories. Muttering under her breath that she was her best friend and that she could have been alerted to Matsuri's new 'boyfriend' as soon as it had happened. To that comment. Matsuri informed Ami that Kyoya was not her boyfriend, although she withheld the part about not knowing what they were. And to that, Ami snorted.

Today was no different. She had ventured into a store that had quickly become her favorite. It was a designer store that had at least ten new items every day. The selection ranged from shoes to dresses for all occasions.

"Matsuri-Senpai."

She'd been sifting through the clothes on the rack when she'd heard her name. She turned her eyes up towards the person that had called her. Two auburn hair boys were standing before her. Their amber eyes looking down at her.

"Hikaru, Kaoru," she greeted as she shifted her eyes back down to the clothes. She wasn't sure which twin was which, so she settled for looking at neither when she greeted them. She made a mental note to learn which twin was which. They might have been a package, but they weren't the same person.

"What are you doing here?" the twin on the left asked.

"Shopping?" She thought that the answer to that question had been obvious, seeing as she was in a store riffling through clothing. "What are you doing here?"

"This place sells our mother's designs," the boy on the right replied. He reached over and flipped the tag over on the shirt she had in her hand. On the tag was the Hitachiin fashions logo. How had she not noticed that before?

"She also owns this store," the boy on the left continued.

"Do you shop here often?"

"Only recently. I'm staying with my mother and I've been shopping to pass the time," she shrugged.

"You should get the orange one instead of the green one. The green one doesn't quite go with your complexion." The boy was holding out the same shirt that she held in her hand, just in orange. She had to admit that she liked the orange one.

"Thanks." She looked at them in turn for a moment and then frowned.

"What's the matter?" one of the boys asked, the one on the left, his auburn eyes temporarily lacing with concern.

"I still can't tell you apart," Matsuri admitted as she continued to stare the boys down. "Kaoru?" she questioned, pointing to the twin on the left, the one that had just spoken to her. His amber eyes opened wide, as if he were startled. Through his wide eyes, he looked over at his brother, who looked equally as surprised. "No?" she asked, feeling a little disappointed.

"Yes." Kaoru replied quietly. His voice was softer than the one that he used when he was talking in unison with his brothers.

"And Hikaru?" she asked, pointing to the boy on the right, the one that had handed her the orange shirt.

Hikaru looked over at his brother with a confused look in his eyes. "Yes." His voice was a bit higher than Kaoru's.

"Really? I got it right?"

If she was correct then, she would be very pleased with herself. They were the only Host Club members that she felt that she did not have a connection with. They were always together, even when they were hosting. She never had a chance to interact with them. However, she had been watching them. There were times when she would attend Host Club functions and watch the twins, trying to tell them apart, but they were so similar that she thought it was impossible. Haruhi could do it. Why couldn't she? And she had.

"How did you know?" Hikaru asked.

"I watched the two of you. I've been trying to figure it out. You don't make it easy," she told them as she began to shift through the racks again.

"People can't tell us apart," Kaoru said with a shrug.

Matsuri started towards the counter where she was greeted by a young girl at the register. The girl wasn't really looking at her; her eyes were focused on the two boys behind her. Matsuri paid for her garment and as the girl bagged it, she looked over her shoulder at the boys, who were no longer behind her. Instead, they were standing at the entrance of the store talking to an older, taller woman.

"Matsuri-Senpai."

"Yes?" She hadn't looked up at the boy when he spoke to her, instead she was too busy sliding her credit card into her wallet as she approached them.

"Oh, she's beautiful."

Matsuri looked up quickly at the sound of another woman's voice, her face turning a raging red. She looked up into amber colored eyes very similar to those of Hikaru and Kaoru. She even had the same angular facial structure and auburn hair. There was a bright smile on her lips, that were covered in a bright red lipstick.

"This is our mother," Hikaru introduced.

"Hitachiin Yuzuha," the woman greeted.

"Kinjo Matsuri," she replied with a low bow.

The older woman reached out to her, but paused mid-action after seeing a stern look from Kaoru. "May I?"

May she what? Her honey brown eyes shifted to the twins, how shrugged. Apparently, they had no idea what it was that she wanted. However, it seemed that Kaoru had at least wanted their mother to ask for permission before doing it. "Of course."

The woman touched Matsuri's long raven hair, brushing it over her shoulder and out of her face. She then placed her hand under Matsuri's chin, tilted her head up and examined her face. Unlike the Hitachiin's, Matsuri had a slightly rounder face.

"How tall are you?"

"Five foot, three inches."

"Tell me, Kinjo-san, have you ever considered modeling?"

Matsuri laughed, full heartedly laughed. Her a model? That was something that she had never even considered. However, her laughter lessened as she realized that she was the only one laughing. Oh no. "You're serious?"

"I certainly am. I have been looking for someone to model the clothes I make in pictures on the webpage. Everyone in the industry looks so similar, but you have a different look. You're very pretty, but in an exceptionally average way. Please take no offense to that," the woman added this as an afterthought.

Matsuri scrunched her nose, not really knowing how to take that. "I won't." She said that she wouldn't take offense to that, but she was still unsure of if she wanted to or not. Pretty, but in an average way.

"So what say you?" the woman asked. "It would just be the remainder of the summer wear and fall designs."

Matsuri's caught Hikaru's eye. He gave her a shrug that almost said, why not. Why not model his mother's clothing designs? It was definitely an opportunity that she didn't receive every day. "I would love to, Hitachiin-Sama."

* * *

After she had agreed to model for Hitachiin Fashions, she and the Hitachiin's had gone to lunch to discuss the arrangements. Yuzuha had been surprised that Matsuri could tell her boys apart, addressing them by their own names. She confessed that even she and their father struggled with telling them apart. Something that she found upsetting and unsettling. The limits were set at the lunch. Matsuri was not, under any circumstance, going to model any swimwear. In all honestly, that was the only limit she could think of. Of course, she'd had requested that Eri-san be her makeup and hairstylist. Yuzuha had agreed to that.

Once their lunch was over, she called Ami to tell her about the offer. She wasn't really in the mood to have Ami sulking around because she didn't tell her about this, her sulking over the whole Kyoya situation had just ended. Ami was pleased, going on and on about how pretty Matsuri would look in Hitachiin Fashions. Then she'd told her mother over dinner. Her mother was also pleased. Her daughter was smart and beautiful.

Once her mother went to sleep, she was finally able to relax and there was only one place that she could do that. She'd lowered herself into the steaming water and for the first time all day, she was finally alone. She relaxed back into the water, sinking lower. She let her eyes close as she relaxed into the tub.

It was a very peaceful experience, until her phone began to vibrate on the floor next to the tub. Her honey brown eyes snapped open as she fought away a twinge of irritation. She dried her hand on the towel next to her and then grabbed her phone.

"Yes?"

"I understand that congratulations are in order," his smooth tenor voice stated.

Kyoya. She smiled, the twinge of irritation gone. "Congratulations?"

"Hikaru told me that you agreed to…"

"Model for his mother's clothing line," Matsuri finished as she settled back into the bathtub.

Kyoya was quiet for a moment. "Where are you, Matsuri-chan?"

The raven haired girl debated on her answer to the question as she chewed on her bottom lip. She could lie, but what would be the point in that. "I am in the bath," she told him.

"The bath?"

"Yes, yes, don't worry about it. Tell me about your event," she pushed, closing her eyes as she leaned back against the porcelain tub. She tried to fight away the blush that was beginning to form on her cheeks. Not knowing if it was from admitting that she was in the bath to Kyoya or if it was because the steam from the water heating her body.

"It was successful. Everyone seemed pleased as far as the arrangements. They enjoyed hearing your father's ideas and his plans for the company's growth. The question and answer portion was active. It went well," he replied. His voice was a bit deeper than usual, but still holding is tenor pitch.

"That sounds riveting, please tell me more," she teased.

"You like it when I talk business?" he asked, his tone of voice lowering a bit more.

Matsuri's entire face turned red when he spoke. Was it just her or were his words a bit... suggestive? She cleared her throat as she shifted in the tub, suddenly very very warm. "I like to hear what you have to say," she answered quietly. Damn him and his smooth tenor voice for having this effect on her.

"How have you been occupying your time?" he asked. She could hear him trying to clear the huskiness from his voice, but he continuously failed. Finally, he allowed it to settle permanently into his voice.

"You know, shopping and getting asked to model. The usual," the girl laughed. "Honestly, I've just been shopping and reading."

"Anything good?"

"Shopping or reading wise?"

"Reading."

She shrugged, the water sloshing around her as she did. "Nothing that would interest you, I assure you. Romantic dramas and things of the like. Chick books, if you will."

Kyoya chuckled. "That's a surprise."

"I live to surprise you, Ootori-san," she replied, her voice low.

Kyoya shifted in his seat, her low tone stirring something in him. Something unfamiliar to him, an uncomfortable twinge in the lower portion of his abdomen. He licked his lips, suddenly longing to feel her lips on his. To feel her body pressed against his. Unbeknownst to him, she was feeling something very similar.

"When will you return to your father's?" he asked her, not bothering to attempt to cover his tone.

Matsuri was a bit startled by it. "Next week. I think there is a car coming on Friday morning."

"Would it be too forward of me to make a reservation for dinner that night?"

She bit her bottom lip. "No. Not at all."

"Dinner then," he repeated.

"Dinner," she echoed.

They were quiet for a long while. Her relaxing into the tub, the water soothing her muscles. Him rocking from side to side in the swivel chair at his desk.

"Kyoya-kun?" she said softly.

"Yes?"

"Should we discuss…."

He cleared his throat. "If you would like."

She chewed on her bottom lip as she mulled over what she wanted to say to him. "I just don't want to be misled."

"By me?"

"This situation."

It was Kyoya's turn to carefully consider his words to her. "Matsuri-chan, do you remember what I said to you on the breezeway at the Summer Ball."

"Yes."

"That still stands true. This is difficult for me; I cannot control you, as a variable in the equation that is, you are unexpected. Even with the unexpected variables in my life, I can learn to control them. However, you are very unpredictable. I can't quite figure you out." He continued to mull over his thoughts. "However, do not underestimate my," he stopped talking. "Do not think that you are not important to me." Matsuri was as curious to what he had wanted to say initially, but she decided against it. "Do you understand?"

"No."

Kyoya chuckled. "I thought you were smarter than that, Kinjo-san." He sighed. "Let's simplify this, shall we? I like a challenge. Understand that?"

"Yes."

"So we are on the same page?" he asked. Matsuri hesitated. "No? We aren't."

"We are," she replied. "I think."

"What are you hearing me say?"

Matsuri exhaled softly. "You like me, you like that I am a challenge."

"Ah, we are on the same page," his tone was teasing.

"And that leaves us…"

"Where does that leave us?" he posed.

"Impasse?"

"No, those are messy. The lines are blurred there." The chair under him squeaked as he stood and made his way across the room. "I need sharp, clear lines."

"We could go back to how things were."

Back to how they were before Ami dragged her into the Host Club at the start of term. Back to not really acknowledging one another. Back to just being classmates.

"That would be counterproductive, Matsuri-chan. That would mean I would have wasted the past five or so minutes having this discussion with you about a useless topic. That would mean you would have wasted my time."

"Well the only option that leaves would be for us to place a title on this, to be together." Matsuri was hesitant with this suggestion.

"That would please me," he told her after a few quiet moments. Well quiet except for her pounding heart.

"I would like that as well."

* * *

 **A/N:** Hello! Thanks for reading! I really like writing these semi-intimate moments between Kyoya and Matsuri. It's a good chance to see a different side to Kyoya, a more controlling side. And a change to see a more submissive side to Matsuri. I actually really like writing Kyoya. But I digress… Matsuri modeling for a website, I wonder were that's going to go? So there's titles now? (Finally, right?) Things are looking good for Matsuri and Kyoya! At least for now… Let know what you all think by leaving a review! You can praise this chapter or say hi or even guess at what you think is going to happen. Because to be honest, I haven't written anything past this so if your idea strikes my fancy, you could very well see it come to fruition. Also, thanks to all the guest reviewers, to all my reviewers really. But if you have an account and review, I generally reply to your review and thank you there. (If you haven't heard from me, I am so sorry!)

 **~ Nikki**


	14. Chapter 14

Between squeezing in time with her mother, talking with the Hitachiin twins mother, and restarting practice for tennis, Matsuri had completely lost track of time. In fact, the two weeks that passed after her late night phone call between she and Kyoya flew by. Before she knew it, she was watching her father's driver pack her suitcases into the trunk of the car. The amount of cases had doubled due to the copious amounts of shopping that she and her mother did during her stay. Shortly after that, she was on the road back to her father's house, and glad for it. It wasn't that she disliked spending time with her mother. However, it was just that she had something to – well look forward to at home.

There had been several late night conversations between the she and Kyoya that followed the first. Just talking about anything that came to mind. The financial status of the Club, ideas that she might have for new cosplays. However, after she'd teased about wanting there to be more beach themed days, Kyoya had barred her from answering that question. They talked about her mother's new cd. Kyoya had requested a copy, although she wasn't sure if it was because he really wanted one or just wanted her to think he did. It probably didn't matter anyway. Or they would talk about his brothers and sister, only when prompted by Matsuri. Kyoya would not bring them up in general conversation otherwise. However, she was curious because she'd never had siblings. Sibling life interested her.

It was half past two when she arrived back at her father's house. He wasn't there to greet her, which wasn't unusual. He always said that he would be there on the porch like her mother, however he would always get distracted by something. As she was walking in, he was walking out to greet her.

"Caught again," he said sheepishly.

Matsuri waved her hand in a dismissive manner and laughed. "Work?"

"Soccer," he corrected.

Men and their sports. The father and daughter sat down in the sitting room to a light lunch. They caught up. He told her about the conference that the Ootori's had hosted, in much more detail than Kyoya had. He then talked about some other conferences that he had attended. However, it seemed that none added up to the Ootori's conference, he kept coming back to it. Matsuri tried her best to hide her smile as she sipped on her ginger tea. Kyoya had done well. He then shifted the conversation to her, saying that he was sure that he was boring her with his talk of business. They talked about the shopping she did and the offer she'd received from Hatachiin-sama, one that her father was a little uneasy about at the beginning, but he came around. She also revealed that she had dinner plans.

"With Ito-san?" he questioned knowingly.

"No," she said slowly. "With Ootori-san."

Her father looked surprised. "Ootori-san? That's twice that you've had dinner with him."

"Thrice," she corrected.

"Thrice?" he echoed. "Is there something going on with the two of you?" Matsuri sipped her tea, not wanting to answer him right away, not wanting to answer him at all. "He did mention you at the conference when we spoke. I told him that you were coming for his spot as number one in class. He smirked and said that he welcomed the challenge, that you were very bright." Matsuri felt a blush creeping across her cheeks. "Matsuri?"

"Yes," she replied quietly. "There is, as you put it, something going on."

Her father looked displeased for a few moments. "He's very arrogant and to himself. Educated, yes, but snobby. He doesn't seem to be your type." He paused, rubbing his chin. "Is it his money? You don't have to do that; we can find you a more suitable match with money."

Matsuri's honey-brown eyes widened as he spoke. Her grasp loosened around her tea cup, so much so that she almost dropped it. "No!" Her outburst was sudden and louder than she'd expected it to be, so much so that it even startled her father. "No, it's not his money. It's nothing to do with money. I like him, papa. He's not arrogant, well he is, but not the way that you think. He keeps to himself because he has to prove something to someone. He's not what you think."

Kinjo Hayate was quiet as he sipped on his tea. His daughter was a very mild mannered person, just as she was raised to be. However, she was passionate, a trait she'd gained from her mother. Passionate and a good judge of character. If Matsuri was ever uneasy about a person, then that was reason enough for him. The opposite applied as well. "Invite him to dinner sometime. I would like to get to know him."

"Really?" she questioned with an arched eyebrow. Her father nodded. "Okay, I'll tell him at dinner." Matsuri cast a glance at the clock and saw that nearly an hour and a half had passed. Where did the time go? "If you will excuse me, I would like to take a nap before I have to get ready for dinner." Matsuri stood and placed her tea cup on the saucer on the table. "Father, thank you," she said as she exited the room.

If was funny how things never seemed to change. The story was always the same. Girl meets boy and so on and so forth. It was always the same. Just as it was when he met Rei. Boy meets girl. And so on and so forth.

He just hoped that her story would be different.

* * *

"Kinjo-sama. The handsome boy from before is back."

Matsuri laughed at the maid as she stood from her chair and started out of the door. _The handsome boy from before._ Kyoya would love to hear that that was what he was being called by the maids of the Kinjo estate. She made her way to the door, expecting to see her father in the hall or hear the two of them in the sitting room. However, that wasn't the case.

Ootori Kyoya was leaning against the rear passenger side door. His left leg crossed over his right, with the toe of his dress shoe on the ground. He lifted his gaze upward when he heard her front door open. The light glinted off of his glasses lenses as he pushed himself off the door as she approached him.

"Kinjo-san," he greeted with a soft bow.

A look of confusion crossed her eyes at the formality. Kyoya gestured subtly towards the front door. In the reflection of his glasses, she could see that the door was cracked and the maid was peeping out of the door. "Ootori-san," she replied bowing to him.

He reached behind him, opening the door and gestured for her to get into the limo. She obeyed. He slipped in behind her, closing the door, and settled into his seat. The limo had pulled away from the curb before he spoke to her.

"Your maid is quite nosey, Matsuri-chan," he teased.

"When she came to get me, she told me that the handsome boy from before was here," Matsuri shot back in an equally teasing manner.

Kyoya was sitting closer to her than usual. She could feel his body heat against her. She couldn't deny that she liked how it felt to be close to him.

"Is that what you told her to call me?"

"No, I told her to call you Ootori-sama, just as she calls Ami, Ito-sama," she replied as she leaned back into the seat and looked over at him. His grey gaze was on her already, pinning her to her seat. Her throat automatically started to dry. She cleared her throat and licked her lips. "Where are we going?"

"A new sushi place, I came across in your absence. Is that acceptable?"

He was closer to her than before. She turned her honey-brown eyes up to his grey eyes. "Yes."

His lips were on hers. His fingers tangling her dark hair. He pressed her body against the plush leather seat. His heart was racing in his chest, pounding against his ribs. His hand trailed down the side of her neck. Despite his cool touch, his touch left a scorching trail on her skin as well as sent a chill down her spine.

She arched her back, her chest pressing to his. Her fingers tangling in the hair at the nape of his neck. Her lips parting as he moved his lips from hers and to the skin of her neck. A soft groan slipped through her lips. The skin where his lips were burned, causing her to squirm under him.

The limo came to a sudden stop, breaking them apart.

"Yoshi," Kyoya growled, his voice low.

"Sorry, Ootori-sama! A car just cut me off., sir. Are you alright?" the driver called. Apparently his name was Yoshi.

"We are fine," Matsuri answered with a soft laugh. She looked over at Kyoya, brushing his hair down from where she'd ruffled it. "You impress me."

"How so?"

"You know your driver's name. I didn't expect you to know his name," she said with a shrug hoping that she had not offended him.

To that Kyoya rolled his eyes, "Why would I not know the name of my driver? I do research on everyone else in my life, Yoshi is no exception."

"On everyone?"

"Yes."

Matsuri's eyebrow arched. "What did you find on me, Detective?"

Kyoya mirrored her action. "Nothing that would change my opinion of you," he replied. "Otherwise, I would have left you alone."

"When did you research me?"

"After the first time you requested that I Host you."

At the beginning of term? "That long ago. You must tell me what you found."

Kyoya thought for a moment, debating on if he should answer. "You're not particularly interesting to research. No criminal history. No judicial record with the school. No referrals from your time with the tennis team. Acceptable grades. Kinjo Hayate has full custody of you. You're looking into going to a university in Europe, Oxford and one in America, Yale. Accepted into Ouran University, congratulations to you." He looked down at her to see that she was pouting. Actually pouting, like a child that had been denied sweets at the market. "What is it?"

"The playing field isn't even. Your clearance level is higher than mine."

Kyoya could not help but chuckle at her analogy. However, she was right. The playing field was not even. He could find out whatever he wanted to know about her with the click of his mouse. While she on the other hand had to go through him to find things. A task that he knew he did not make easy. However, her clearance level, not that he would tell her this, was fairly high. Tamaki, for some reason unknown to him, has some of the highest clearance, but Kyoya never told him anything. Mostly because he never asked. However, Matsuri asked questions, so she got answers – most of the time. Her clearance, as she called it, was competing with Tamaki's.

"Let's not discuss this any further, okay? You look as if you'll be angry if we do."

Matsuri looked as if she wanted to say something to him, but decided against it. Kyoya looked as if he wanted to say something to her, but didn't. Instead, he brushed his long fingers across her cheek, moving a strand of dark hair behind her ear before trailing his hand through her hair. He had no desire to upset her.

She exhaled softly, relaxing under his touch. Even if she had wanted to, she wouldn't have been able to be upset with him. Not over something that small. She knew that Kyoya had researched her, well at least she assumed that he had. There was no need to but upset with him over that.

* * *

Matsuri had long forgotten about their disagreement, if one could even call it that. By the time they got out of the limo, it was pushed to the back of her mind and when the hostess seated them at the table, it was gone. However, she did continue to pick up a strange vibe from Kyoya. Every now and then, he would look like he wanted to say something to her but he'd change his mind as well as the topic.

Their date was a strange one. She and Kyoya were usually pretty much on the same page, in sync if you would. However, it seemed that his thoughts were preoccupied. The conversational flow was choppy, jumping from one idea to another with no transition. From topic a to topic d. When he kissed her outside of her house, she felt a divide between them. As if there was something he was keeping from her. Matsuri, knowing him, decided that she wouldn't say anything about it and she would just let him go. Perhaps he was tired or maybe he had something to attend to at home involving the Ootori Group.

The house was quiet when she entered. Quietly, she made her way to her bedroom and without stopping walked straight to the bathroom. She started the water running in the shower, letting it warm while she stripped off her clothes. She stepped into the shower, letting the warm water rush over her skin and wash off the strange feeling she had about her date.

When she stepped out of the bathroom, dressed in her pajamas she looked down at her phone to see that there was a new text message from Kyoya.

 _Check your email._

The girl grabbed her laptop off the table beside her bed and flipped it open. In her inbox were a few unread emails and at the top was one from Kyoya, the subject line reading: _Security Clearance._ A soft smile played on her lips as she selected the email.

 _Kinjo-san,_

 _You've been granted a higher security clearance level. Utilize the information you have received as you will._

 _Ootori Kyoya_

Attached was a file titled, _Ootori Kyoya Background._

Curious, Matsuri clicked on the file and when it popped open she minimized the screen quickly. She shouldn't have been surprised. She really shouldn't have. She'd read the title of the file after all. From the glimpse that she had gotten it was all of Kyoya's information. His name, his birthdate, government id information, everything.

She dialed his number before she could even process the information she'd received or what she was doing.

"Yes?" his smooth tenor voice greeted.

"You didn't have to do that," she told him quietly, her hand hovering over the mousepad.

He was quiet. On his side of the line, she could hear him twisting back and forth in a chair. "I am aware that I didn't _have_ to. I wanted to." He clicked on hiss keyboard. "Have you read it?"

"No."

She wasn't sure if she wanted to. Shouldn't he just tell her this information? She shouldn't have to read it.

"Are you going to?"

"I'm not sure."

Kyoya arched his eyebrow. Was she upset with him? He ran his hand over his face. He'd shared that information with her so that she wouldn't be upset with him and she was still upset with him. "Okay," he said. "May I ask why?"

"You could just tell me," she responds quickly and sharply. "You don't have to be so," she left her voice trail off because she couldn't find a word to express what she thought he was being.

"Remember what I told you on the breezeway?" he asked again, his tone even.

 _This isn't easy for me._

Kyoya wasn't the kind to just reveal his secrets to just anyone. He wasn't the kind of person that just talked about himself; he wasn't particularly loquacious in general. He'd much rather stick to the shadows and observe.

 _This isn't easy for me._

Matsuri sighed understanding what he meant by it at this moment. This was the way that he was sharing information with her. He wanted her to know. However, opening up was not something that he was good at. So he showed her the information that he wanted to give her in a way that he was used to: in a computer document.

She maximized the screen and let her eyes scan over it. "AB blood type?" she questioned.

"Yes," he replied.

"To be the third son, your net worth is still very high," she continued as she scrolled down the page.

"Agreed."

Matsuri minimized the screen again, having scanned enough into his life for the moment. "Kyoya-kun," she said after a long moment of silence between the two of them.

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

Kyoya released a breath that he had not been aware he was holding in. "You're welcome."

* * *

 **A/N:** Hi! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I had a lot of fun writing it. There were a few different endings, and middles, that I had set out for this chapter. I wasn't really sure if I wanted what happened to happen, but it kind of wrote itself so I trust my writing instinct. So, Kyoya has shared a part of himself with Matsuri that he hasn't with anyone else. What's that mean? And what will happen now that her father knows of her involvement with Kyoya? Hmmm… I guess you'll have to come back and read the next chapter. Let me know what you think about this chapter! Leave a review, please!

 **~ Nikki**


	15. Chapter 15

Ootori Kyoya never found sleep easily. Tonight, especially tonight, was no different. After sending Matsuri, well everything about him, he'd started to pace his room with is phone in his hand, waiting for it to ring. And when it finally did, he was hesitant to answer. Would this change the way she saw him? But then again, what did he care. He was Ootori Kyoya, the opinions of a girl didn't matter to him. At least that's what he wanted to believe. Truth be told, her opinion of him did matter. And he was pleased to hear that receiving the information didn't change her opinion of him. Sleep should have come easy after having that weight lifted from his shoulders. However, he still struggled to find it. After lying in his bed with his eyes closed and not finding sleep, he returned to his desk where his laptop sat open.

Absentmindedly, he started to click through the tabs that were open on the screen, most of them business related. He settled on reading about a merger between two companies and the loss of staff that resulted from it, noting where they went wrong and how to avoid it. It was then that he heard a knock at his door. For a moment, he ignored it, assuming that he had imagined it. However, the knocking sound came again and he knew that he could not have imagined it. The boy let his eyes fall on the clock at the bottom corner of his screen and saw that it was not nearly as late as he thought it was. Only 11:30.

"What?" he answered without looking away from the computer. The door creaked open and he glanced over out of the corner of his eye to see who it was. A small woman appeared in his doorway and he turned his attention back to the screen. "Fuyumi," Kyoya greeted. "I thought you were leaving today." The woman shrugged her small shoulders lightly and smiled as she approached his desk. Kyoya took her unspoken cue and closed his laptop, giving her his full attention. "Yes?"

"I came to ask about your date," she told him with a bright smile as she perched on the corner of his desk.

Under any normal circumstance, he would have denied any such thing. He hadn't been on a 'date', just an outing, he would say. However, that wasn't true and he knew it.

"It was fine," he replied.

"Who is she?'

Kyoya arched his eyebrow and leaned back in the chair, lacing his fingers together under his chin. "Kinjo Matsuri," he answered smoothly. "Her father owns Kinjo Technologies and her mother is a violinist."

"Oh," Fuyumi said. She looked as if she were mulling over the name that he had given her. "Matsuri, that's a pretty name." Kyoya dropped his hands in his lap. He did agree. "Is she a pretty girl?" She questioned with another smile.

Kyoya bit the inside of his lip, resisting the urge to say something snarky to his sister. "Quite," was the word he settled on. He thought about her long raven toned hair and her brown eyes. The way she leaned in close to him when she spoke to him or when he spoke to her. The way her lips felt against his. The way her body molded against his. "She's quite pretty."

Fuyumi moved away from the desk and towards his drawers. She opened the top one slowly and tisked as she did so. "Really, Kyoya, you must be neater," The clothes in the drawer were folded impeccably and honestly needed no attention from her. However, her small hands flew into the drawer as she started to shift his clothing around. Kyoya started to speak, but he rolled his eyes and decided not to. She always did this and there was no stopping her. "Tell me about her."

"Who?" he asked absentmindedly as he watched his sister unfold and then fold his clothes again, only in a messier manner.

"Who? Kinjo Matsuri of course," she responded. "Tell me about her."

Kyoya looked over at his sister thoughtfully and bit down on the inside of his cheek again. "She's," he paused unable to mark were to start. He could describe her and talk about her hair and her eyes. The way that she looked when the wind blew and tousled her hair around and she would frantically try to smooth it. The way that her eyes lit up whenever she talked about something she had a strong opinion on. The way that the corners of her eyes crinkled when she laughed. The way her eyes darkened when she set foot on the tennis court and her muscles tensed as she squeezed the racquet in her hands. "She's…" He never thought that it would be impossible to describe this girl to his sister.

"You've said enough."

Kyoya looked up and saw that his sister was smiling at him, showing her perfect white and straight teeth. She had closed his drawer while he was trying to describe Matsuri, and he could see the sleeves of his shirts sticking out of the sides of the drawer. He sighed internally. At least she only got to one drawer today. His sister placed a soft hand on his shoulder.

"She sounds lovely," the woman continued. "I hope to meet her one day soon."

Kyoya was so startled by his sister's words that all he could do was nod. He hadn't said anything about Matsuri and yet she had deemed her worth meeting. Women confused him, especially his sister, who looked almost giddy as she wished him a goodnight.

* * *

He awoke to a vibration on his bedside table. Squinting in the darkness, he put his hand on his phone and answered it without even bothering to look at who was calling. He was sure he knew who it was.

"Tamaki, I do not have time for your silly games," he snarled into the phone.

"It's me."

Kyoya propped himself up on his elbow and looked at the time on the clock: _2:30._ He rubbed the bridge of his nose and fell back onto the pillow behind him. "I apologize for that, but why are you calling."

"You got a referral four years ago," she said. "For," she paused, and he could hear the sounds of the pads of her fingers hitting the keyboard. Was she reading his file this late? Obviously she was. "Fighting?"

Kyoya covered his eyes with his arm and exhaled. "Yes, it was."

"What was the reason?"

"It's late, er, early, Matsuri-chan," Kyoya answered, trying to fight the sleep from his voice.

"I'll go away when you answer," her voice bargained with a sing-song tone.

Kyoya sighed deeply and shifted under the blankets. "Hira Shin," he told her, not bothering to uncover his eyes. "He spoke ill of my sister, probably from his older brother. I turned and asked him to stop, he continued. So I made him stop, by hitting him several times."

Matsuri was quiet on the other end of the line. Kyoya could hear the sounds of her fingers meeting the keys on her laptop again. Is this what it sounded like when she talked to him, a continuous sound to the clicking of keys? "Did your father pull some…"

"Pull some strings? Yes, he did. He spoke with Souh-sama and offered the Shin's money to save their crumbling company," Kyoya replied. He didn't speak of the event often, and to be quite honest he had often considered removing it from his record all together. It would only take a small sum of money. Something so miniscule that it would never be missed from the Ootori account.

"You were defending your sister?" she questioned.

Kyoya bit his bottom lip, biting back the irritation that was forming. He was not the kind that enjoyed being woken up in the middle of the night, or in the morning, or ever really. However, he didn't want to shout at her. That was the last thing he wanted. "Matsuri-chan," he said slowly, trying to keep his voice even, but she could hear the warning in his tone.

"Alright, alright, goodnight Kyoya-kun."

"Goodnight," he replied before hanging up the phone.

Matsuri dropped her phone onto her bedside table as she continued to look through the file that Kyoya had sent her. At first, she'd x'ed out of the window all together. She felt odd looking through Kyoya's personal life without him at least on the phone. However, she continued to sit with her laptop on her legs, staring at the email that he had sent to her. _Security Clearance._ He'd wanted her to read the file. He wanted her to know about him. He wanted her to see what was in it. So after retrieving a cup of tea from the kitchens, she climbed back into bed and reopened the file. Starting at the beginning.

His name and birthday. His blood type. The names of his parents. What the two of them did for a living. The names of his brothers and what each of them did, who they were married to – if they were married. Affiliations that the Ootori Medical Group held with other companies. She noticed that these were the parents of children that Kyoya took care to treat with the upmost respect when speaking with them. Then there was his referral. She was so surprised that she had to reach out to him and find clarification.

She hadn't bothered to look at the time, and she couldn't blame him for being upset when she called. She would have been upset if he had called her at that time, and she was asleep as well. After, learning the reason of his fight, she allowed him to hang up the phone before he snapped at her. She could hear the tension building in his voice as he spoke to her. He wasn't very good at keeping his tone even.

After hanging up, she closed her laptop and put it on her bedside table. She took the fact that Kyoya was asleep, one who found it difficult to find sleep, as a sign that she should also be sleeping. After all it was a little half past two in the morning. She had not realized that it was that late, and she found herself wondering where the time had gone as she reached over and turned off the lamp on the bedside table. The girl then pulled her sheets over her head and settled into the bed.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey! I'm trying to get back into the updating every three days thing, so wish me luck on that. I've always liked Kyoya's sister, I think that she's an adorable character that is kind of under appreciated. So with that said, this isn't the last that we will see of Ootori Fuyumi. So this chapter started as something else, but then I decided halfway through that I didn't want that to happen yet, and I think it messed with the flow of the chapter, but it's not too bad. Anyway, let me know what you think. Leave a review!


	16. Chapter 16

"What do you think?"

Matsuri turned her attention to the person that had spoken to her. Hitachiin-sama. She then let her attention settle on the outfit that Hitachiin-sama was holding in her slender hands. A long sleeved coral colored shirt with gold embellishments on the scoop of the collar. The shirt was long, tunic length, and there was a subtle pattern on the front of the shirt, also in a golden color. The embellishment was continued around the opening of the sleeve. With the shirt was a pair of plain white bottoms, leggings of some sort maybe, she wasn't really sure.

"Kinjo-san," Dan Eri scolded as she reached over and turned Matsuri to face her again. With the back end of the eyeliner pen, she was using Dan Eri erased the stray mark that Matsuri had caused when she turned her head. "You can't just go turning your head whenever you please."

"I apologize, Dan-san."

They had agreed to be formal with one another while working on the Hitachiin project. However, it was more difficult than either of them had expected. The had dropped the formalities so long ago, that it was almost foreign to them to use the -san honorific.

"The boys think that you would look nice in this color, and I don't disagree," Hitachiin-sama continued. "Something about how you looked at the summer ball. Did you wear something like this?"

Matsuri fought the urge to nod her head, seeing as Dan Eri was holding her chin firmly in place. "Yes, I did. Although, I don't remember seeing the twins while I was at the ball."

The auburn haired woman smiled. "Oh, _my_ boys aren't the only ones that I talked to."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Matsuri-hime!"

The girl turned her face out of Dan Eri's grasp, against smudging eyeliner across her temple, and looked over her shoulder. She didn't need to look over her shoulder to see who was calling out to her. There was only one person that called her that name anyway. However, wherever that one person was, so was someone else.

"Kinjo-san!" Dan Eri exclaimed again.

Matsuri was just able to spot him on the other side of Tamaki before she was turned back around to face Eri. Matsuri gave her an apologetic look as she began to work on removing the smudge across her face.

"Hello, Tamaki-kun," the girl said, she was completely unable to look at him from the way that Dan Eri was holding her chin in her hand. "How are you?"

"Well, I have been missing seeing your beautiful face, Matsuri-hime!" the blond boy said as he made a move to touch her face only to have Dan Eri swat his hand away from Matsuri's face. From the corner of her eye, she could see Tamaki grab his hand and cower away, violet eyes wide. "Mommy!"

A smile played on Matsuri's lips.

"What is it, Daddy?" a smooth tenor voice answered.

"That lady hit me!"

"Well, it seems that you were in her way, Tamaki. She's trying to work," the tenor voice drawled.

Matsuri and Eri made brief eye contact as Eri moved to get the mascara wand. Eri's eyes were questioning, how did she know these people? To that Matsuri simply looked up and awaited the application of the mascara. Maybe she would figure out, that the boy that Tamaki was calling Mommy, was none other than Ootori Kyoya.

"Boss," the Hitachiin twins said together as they saluted him. She hoped that they were coming to retrieve Tamaki and take him away from her. From the way, Dan Eri was running the the wand over her eyelashes, she could tell that she wasn't going to be able to take many more distractions.

"Good job on selecting a color that matched the image I drew." Tamaki produced a drawing, if that was what one could call it. Matsuri could only see it from her peripherals but what she was able to make out almost made her laugh. It was a very poorly drawn version of a woman, a stick woman, in a dress, a triangle. The triangle was filled with a light orange color. It was only then that she put two and two together. Was that, that poorly drawn thing, supposed to be her?

"Well, you didn't exactly give us a lot to go off of," Kaoru said, at least, she thought that was Kaoru, she couldn't see him to be sure.

"Kyoya-senpai gave us a better description."

Dan Eri stopped mid application of mascara to look down at Matsuri. The raven haired girl cleverly avoided her gaze and after a few moments, she finished applying the mascara and took a step back to admire her work. The twins and Tamaki appeared beside her, looking at the raven haired girl with judgmental eyes.

"She's perfect," Tamaki declared as he pulled her up from the chair and into his grasp. He turned her around to see the back of her hair. Her hair was in a half-up, half-down style. The down part was straight, the up part was an inverted ponytail. Just something simple. "You're absolutely perfect!"

"Tamaki-kun," she said as she pulled out of his grasp. "Thank you, but it's really Dan Eri you have to compliment," she gestured to the woman next to him, "I'm just plain Matsuri without her."

"Plain Matsuri?" his tenor voice muttered from behind her. Matsuri looked over her shoulder to see Kyoya looking down at the notebook in his hands. He glanced at her over his lens frames with a smirk on his lips.

It was odd to hear him say her name without the honorific, so much so that it sent a chill down her spine. He was just quoting her, that's why there was no honorific, and she knew that he would not just say her given name in such a carefree manner.

"Yes, just plain Matsuri," she replied, before turning to look at the twins. "Is that what I'm wearing first?"

"Yes," Hikaru said. "Haruhi!"

Matsuri smiled as she looked around the room to see where Haruhi would enter from. The girl had appeared in a doorway to the left of the room, dressed in a pair of long shorts and a collared short sleeved shirt. Even out of school, her dress was gender neutral.

"Haruhi!"

"Hi, Matsuri-senpai," the younger girl said with a brief wave. Hikaru handed Haruhi the outfit that his mother had brought into the room and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Haruhi will show you where you can change."

"Thanks."

Matsuri walked with Haruhi out of the room. Twice over the summer, their paths had crossed. Once accidentally on the beach and the other quite purposely when Matsuri made her way to the inn where Haruhi was employed. They two girls had grown close over the summer. They had become friends, very good friends. Matsuri felt that she was able to speak more freely about her budding relationship with Haruhi for a two reasons. The first was, Haruhi wasn't a gossip, she was sure that whatever she told Haruhi would stay between them. Secondly, because Haruhi knew Kyoya. She didn't see him as the Shadow King like most people did, she knew him.

"Ok, so here is where you can change."

It was a large sitting room with large windows filled with racks of clothing. This was clearly where Hitachiin-sama stored her designs. Behind the racks of clothes, she could see the European Victorian era style of the room.

"How have you been?" Matsuri asked as she began to change, pulling her shirt off to replace it with the coral toned one.

"I've been well," Haruhi responded. "Working, but well. You?"

Matsuri shrugged. "I'm great."

"Because of Kyoya-senpai?" Haruhi teased. She knew that she was right when a blush, a deep red one, crept across the back of her neck. "Oh. How is that?" The brown haired girl teased. The blush on Matsuri's neck deepened.

"It's fine," Matsuri replied, she was glad that she had turned her back to Haruhi when she started to change. That way she couldn't see the goofy smile on her lips or the deep blush on her face as she responded. Matsuri cleared her throat. "It's not nice to tease people."

"I know," Haruhi said through a laugh. "It's fun with you, Senpai."

Matsuri scowled. "You're hilarious." After a moment, she turned to face her friend. "How do I look?" Matsuri asked.

"Lovely."

* * *

"You're tense, Matsuri-chan," Hitachiin-sama called out to her. "Relax."

That had to be the thousandth time that she had heard the woman say that on this shoot. The background was a street in Tokyo, somewhere that the older woman thought would make her comfortable, somewhere familiar. However, she wasn't comfortable at all. She just felt strange standing in front of the camera as the photographer snapped pictures. She felt weird and out of place. Not to mention, the boys were watching her and trying to get her to relax, but that was only making it worse. Tamaki had offered to take the photos with her, but he'd only made her feel more out of place. And of course, Kyoya was standing in the shadows watching her every awkward move.

"Relax," Tamaki said, "Inhale and exhale."

Matsuri shot him a venomous look. One that would make Kyoya proud.

"Let's take a break," Kaoru suggested.

The boys, Hitachiin-sama, and the photographer turned away from her and the Tokyo background and started towards the snack table. Matsuri remained standing in front of a Tokyo street in summer. She sighed deeply. This was an awful idea. She hadn't realized what it meant to model clothes. She just thought it would come easily, it was just taking pictures. However, it turned out that she was very camera shy, which resulted in them trying to get a good shot off her in the first outfit for the past forty-five minutes.

"Yen for your thought, Matsuri-chan?" his smooth tenor voice questioned.

"Come to tease me?" she questioned as she brought her honey brown eyes up to his grey gaze. There was a smirk on his lips, one that confirmed her thoughts.

"Not at all," he said. His hands were pushed into the pocket of his black denim pants, his notebook discarded somewhere, as he approached her.

"What do you want?" she asked, her tone a bit sharper than she intended. Kyoya's eyebrow arched, his smirk growing. "I'm sorry."

"You're thinking too much," he told her.

"Well, I'm not in front of a camera every day. Or ever really."

He shrugged, taking his hands from his pockets. "You're quite photogenic."

Matsuri rolled her eyes, "Thank you."

Kyoya placed his hands on her shoulders. "You really should relax. It's not that complex."

"Is there an algorithm?" she teased.

Kyoya smirked, dropping his hands from her shoulders and circling her. He placed his forearms on her shoulders, while standing behind her. His hand reached over to brush a piece of hair from her face, before leaning forward towards her ear. "There's an algorithm for everything," he told her lowly, his lips brushing her ear as he spoke.

"Care to share?"

Kyoya pushed away from her, trailing his hand down the side her arm, making the nerves in his hands wake come to life and dance. Her honey brown eyes followed his slender fingers. Briefly, his index finger hooked with her middle finger at the end of its path down her arm.

 _ **CLICK!**_

"That was a perfect shot, Matsuri!" Hitachiin-sama exclaimed, clapping her hands in front of her. She looked so pleased with her. Even the boys looked impressed

Matsuri wanted to speak, object to her capturing a personal moment between she and Kyoya. However, she couldn't. She couldn't make herself speak at all. Kyoya did tend to have that effect on her, making her throat dry and taking her ability to speak from her. So she just stood there with her hand folded in front of her and watching Kyoya as from the corner of her eye.

When the photographer pulled up the photo, it was just her, standing on a Tokyo Street, a soft look of longing in her eyes, and her lips parted just so.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hello! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. This is more of a filler chapter, I'm sorry! I'm working on an actual plot chapter next. I just have a lot going on right now, as the semester starts to come to a close and all. But I wanted to get something out to my readers, just so you have your dose of Matsuri and Kyoya fluff. So let me know what you think. Leave a review.

 **~ Nikki**


	17. Chapter 17

"You're so pretty," Ito Ami swooned as she looked at the image of her best friend on the website.

After Kyoya's intervention, the Photoshoot went much smoother. They were able to finish two more outfits on different backgrounds in the time that it took her to take the one decent shot that Kyoya had caused.

"I wish I was as pretty as you!"

Matsuri turned her eyes to the brunette that was lying across her bed and looking at the pictures on the website. It was funny that she said that, because when they were children, she often found herself saying that exact thing to Ami. Not thy Matsuri was not pretty as a child, she was just a little tall for her age, hitting her growth spurt before the girls, and long before the boys of her age. She also had a talent for tripping over her own feet in school, but being as graceful as ever on a tennis court. She was just clumsy. Ami on the other hand, was small. She didn't have to worry about her arms and legs being too long for her body. She was petite; with the prettiest brown hair and eyes that matched. Her face was round as a ball, making her look much younger than she was.

"I want this!"

Ami's eyes were wide as saucers as she stared at a dress. It was a red dress that fell to about mid-thigh with a sweetheart neckline. Lace started at her collarbone and continued to the base of her sternum. She wore a pair of simple silver peep-toe heels. The outfit had been her favorite, and when Hitachiin-Sama said that she could take a few things home with her free of charge, the red dress was the first item she selected. She wasn't a big fan of red, however it was her first pick for one simple reason: Kyoya couldn't keep his eyes off her while she was wearing it, no matter how hard he tried.

Matsuri looked down at the computer and shrugged. "Then get it." Matsuri felt a little bad about not just offering the dress that she had to her friend, after all where was she going to wear it?

"I think I will!" Ami exclaimed.

Matsuri settled back into her pillows as she watched her friend on her laptop. A smile played on Matsuri's lips as she did. She'd missed this. Just sitting around with Ami and talking about nothing, or everything. Before she could get to nostalgic, her phone rang.

"Yes?' she answered on the second ring.

"I know that you are with Ito-san right now, but I have a request for you."

Kyoya.

Always straight to business with him. She smiled and bit the corner of her lip as she did, hoping that Ami didn't see her. "No hello?"

He let loose a tense breath. "Hello, Matsuri-chan. The request is from my father."

Matsuri sat up a little straighter. "Your father?"

"He has requested that you have dinner at the estate tonight."

That was why he sounded so tense, well more so than usual. His father had requested that she come to dinner at his home. Had Kyoya told him about their relationship? What had prompted this invitation?

"What's wrong?" Ito Ami questioned as she looked away from Matsuri's computer and saw the confused, and slightly distressed look on her face.

"Do you accept or decline?" Kyoya's smooth tenor voice questioned. She could hear him clicking his pen on the other side of the line, _click-click-click-click-click-click._ If Kyoya was this distressed about this situation, then should she even accept?

"Accept," she told him on an exhale after a few seconds of thinking over her options. She knew that she didn't really have an option. Ootori-sama had invited her to dinner. What would that say about her, and moreover, the company that held her last name if she did not attend the dinner?

Kyoya's side of the line was silent. Had she made the wrong decision? As she opened her mouth to speak, he finally spoke. "I can send a car for you half past five."

Matsuri started to ask if he would be in the car, but decided against it. The phrasing of the question didn't lead her to believe that he would be in the car that came to get her. "Alright."

His side of the line was quiet again, save the sound of his rapidly clicking pen. "Keep on your toes, Matsuri-chan."

"Okay, I will," she replied as she chewed on the corner of her lip again. "I'll see you then?"

"Yes."

Matsuri ended the call without so much as a goodbye. She turned her eyes down to the phone in her hands as she passed it between her hands.

"What is it?" Ami asked again.

"Ootori-sama invited me to the estate for dinner tonight," Matsuri told her as she placed her phone on the bed and stood, making her way to her closet. Slowly, she began to pluck through her clothes, trying to find something that she could wear to dinner with Ootori Yoshio.

"Was that him on the phone?" Ami questioned as she joined her friend in the closet.

"No, that was Kyoya-kun," she answered. "This?"

"You'd look like my grandmother in that," Ami teased as she pulled something off the rack. "This?"

Matsuri almost didn't bother to look at whatever Ami was holding in her hands. Ami seemed to lack the ability to be able to select an occasion appropriate outfit. However, she took a moment to look over her shoulder to see what her friend was holding. Matsuri looked away as soon as she looked at her, however a moment later she looked over her shoulder again.

"Oh, it's perfect."

* * *

Kinjo Matsuri should not have been surprised. She should not have been surprised at all. And yet she was.

When the car that Kyoya had sent for her – without him in it – arrived at the Ootori estate, she couldn't help but stare. The Ootori estate was huge with many windows. She counted at least twenty on the front side of the home, and that was just the amount that she could see, the ones that had lights on in them. Matsuri couldn't believe that this was where Kyoya lived. But once again, she underestimated the Ootori wealth. But then again, how was any person supposed to estimate the wealth of a family so wealthy?

Ootori Kyoya was standing outside of the entrance when the car carrying Matsuri approached. Her eyes pulled away from the windows, she was now counting twenty-three, to watch him approach the car. He was wearing an impeccably tailored black suit with a white button down shirt under it. His dress shoes were spotless and his hair perfectly combed.

"Matsuri-chan," Kyoya greeted as he opened the car door, holding his hand out to her.

Matsuri accepted his assistance in getting out of the car. She looked down, making sure her dress was flat and settled. When she looked up, she saw that Kyoya was watching her. She looked at her outfit again. The dress she was wearing was simple. Navy with lace three-quarter sleeves. A long single strand silver necklace hung around her neck and a pair of simple silver flats covered her feet.

"What?" she asked, feeling very self-conscious. "Too much?"

"No," he answered. "Not at all."

Without another word, he turned over his shoulder and started towards the door, Matsuri following close behind. Always the gentleman, Kyoya opened the front door for her, only to have their pathway blocked by his sister.

"Hello! You must be Kinjo Matsuri!"

Matsuri blinked a few times taking in the sight of the woman before her. Kyoya's sister. A petite raven haired woman with warm eyes.

"I am."

"I'm Shido Fuyumi," the woman said bowing to her. Matsuri bowed as well, not feeling the need to introduce herself since Fuyumi already knew her name.

"Pleasure, Shido-san."

"No, no, Fuyumi is fine," the woman corrected.

Before Matsuri could speak, Kyoya did, his hand pressing to the small of her back. "We should go before father gets angry."

Matsuri followed Fuyumi, guided by Kyoya, through the large entrance way. The home was sparsely decorated. Their footsteps echoed, a little too loudly in her opinion, in the hall as they walked.

"Father," Kyoya greeted. On her back, Matsuri could feel Kyoya's hand tighten on her dress. "May I introduce Kinjo Matsuri?"

Matsuri found something extremely interesting about her shoes and looked down, suddenly feeling out of place. Cautiously, she looked at the man at the head of the table from under her eyelashes. He had a strong jawline, much like Kyoya's. His eyes were cold as he looked over the raven haired girl standing in the doorway. His expression was stern and guarded, also like his son's. However, unlike Kyoya his expression didn't warm upon catching her gaze. If anything, it grew colder. His hands were folded on the table; thin and slender fingers intertwined together.

"Kinjo-san," he greeted. "Thank you for joining us for dinner."

"Thank you, Ootori-sama for inviting me."

Kyoya's hand tightened on her dress, so much so that she felt a chill on the back of her thighs from it riding up. She reached behind her and pried his fingers from her dress as best as she could. However, she has only managed loosened his grasp on her dress.

"Please sit," the older Ootori said as he gestured to the table.

Matsuri hesitated. It was then that Kyoya released her dress and made his way around her. He pulled out the chair next to his father and gestured for her to sit. The girl walked to the seat slowly, taking in the room and also being taken in by Ootori Yoshio. She was well aware that he was watching her every move, judging her every move. Kyoya's hand brushed the back of her neck as he pushed her chair into the table and took the seat beside her.

Yoshio raised his hand to get the attention of the maid, who brought out soup. "I hear that you have recently moved up in class ranking."

"I have," Matsuri confirmed, her eyes shifting to Kyoya as she scooped her soup.

"Closing in on my son?" he asked.

There was no joking tone in his voice. "Your son is securely in first," Matsuri said, testing the waters. Her eyes shifting from Kyoya to his father. To Kyoya for approval and to his father for interest. "As I am securely in second."

"I see."

She realized that she hadn't said the right thing. She now looked unmotivated, like she didn't care about grades. She mentally slapped herself, she wasn't off to a good start in the least.

The night followed that pattern. Ootori Yoshio would say something to her, a statement disguised as a question, and she would provide the wrong answer, or at least an answer that didn't suit him. She tried to catch Kyoya's eye, but he expertly avoided her gaze. Whenever she looked over at him, he was looking at his sister or at something on his plate.

At some point during the meal, Kyoya's hand had found her knee. Most of the time, it was just resting there. His cold hand contrasting with her heated skin, helping to calm her. However, there were times when his father would speak and Kyoya's hand would tense on her knee, while his face would stay completely neutral, his thumb and pinky squeezing against the joint. A clear sign to her that the question that his father was asking was out of line or one that she could decline to answer.

"Tell me, Kinjo-san," Ootori Yoshio started as the maid placed a plate of Honey toast in front of her and then moved towards Kyoya, who as she expected declined, "about Kinjo Technologies."

Matsuri cleared her throat. "Well, there's a lot to tell about it," she answered. "What would you like to know?"

"What's in the works for Kinjo Technologies? What new, surprising ideas do you have in the workshop?"

"Well, they wouldn't be surprising if I let you in on them," she replied immediately. From the corner of her eye she could see Kyoya smirking.

"No, Kinjo-san, I suppose that they would not be," he replied, his tone even. "However, it would be rude to not share at least something with the table."

Matsuri took a bite of her honey toast to buy herself some time. She knew that she shouldn't tell him anything about the technology that they had in the workshop. Everything there was under lock and key, even the people working on it were not allowed to talk about the things that they were working on. However, this was Ootori Yoshio. She was sure that he could take down her father's company with the wave of one hand if he so desired. Did she really want to get on his bad side? "You'll have to be patient, Ootori-sama. All good things come to those who wait." Her loyalty to her family and via that her loyalty to the company was stronger than the need to impress Kyoya's father. Now if that was the right choice, she wasn't too sure.

Even Fuyumi looked impressed with Matsuri. It was rare that someone would stand their ground against her father. If it wasn't the name that intimidated them, it was the icy stare that they received when he spoke or the way that the way that he spoke down to you; just as he had been doing with the young Kinjo girl. However, she seemed unfazed by this. She didn't wilt under his gaze. She stood her ground.

The female Ootori looked over at Kyoya, who thought that looking down at his tea would hide his smirk. He also thought that no one noticed his hand on Matsuri's leg, but she did. She wondered if he was thinking the same thing that she was. That this Kinjo Matsuri was, well, something special. And now she saw, why it was so difficult for him to form a coherent sentence about her.

"Otou-san," Fuyumi said. "Let's not talk business at dinner. It'll bore everyone."

The man at the head of the table frowned at his daughter, who looked down at her plate. Kyoya's hand tightened on her knee, a sign of something bad to come. "Yes, of course." The large dining room was silent and the air was still. "Tell me Kinjo-san, what interest do you have in my son?"

Her honey brown eyes went to Kyoya instantly, and for the first time since they had sat down to dinner, Kyoya's eyes met hers. "Pardon?" she questioned, tearing her eyes away from his grey ones. There was some sort of warning in his eyes.

"What interest do you have in my son?" he repeated more slowly as if he were talking to someone much younger and less intelligent than him.

"You don't need to answer that," Kyoya voiced as he removed his hand from her knee and pushed away from the table.

"Is it for the money?"

Matsuri's face reddened. Why did everyone assume that it was for money? She hadn't even considered his money.

"Otou-san," Fuyumi said quietly.

"Or something to do with the company?" Ootori Yoshio continued.

Matsuri's face continued to redden. How dare he? How dare he think that her interest in Kyoya was anything but sincere. She had never considered his money or his company. She cared for him; not for any of the additional things that came with it.

"What would make the sole heir of a company-"

"Enough," Kyoya said, his grey eyes settling on his father. While he didn't shout, his voice echoed through the room. Fuyumi looked startled. Whereas Ootori Yoshio looked surprised. Surprised that Kyoya had spoken out of turn in such a manner. "Matsuri-chan," he held his hand out to her, and she took it in hers.

Kyoya started out of the dining room, pulling her with him. However, Matsuri stopped, stumbling a few steps because Kyoya didn't stop right away. She turned to the head of the table, seeing that Ootori Yoshio was still sitting there was the shocked expression on his face. She bowed to him. "Thank you for dinner, Ootori-sama. Fuyumi-san, thank you." With that, she allowed Kyoya to continue to lead her out of the dining room.

They were silent as Kyoya led her down the halls of his home. For a moment, she thought that he was taking her to the front door, to get her home, but instead, they walked down an unfamiliar hallway and up a flight of stairs. With their fingers intertwined together, she could feel Kyoya's heart racing, the quick flow of blood through his veins made his hand uncomfortably warm. However, she was sure that he felt the same, seeing as her heart was also racing. The pounding was deafening. Finally, Kyoya stopped and pulled her into a dark room and shut the door behind them.

He turned to her, dropping his hand from hers, and took her face in his hands, a hand on each cheek. Her face was warm, and probably still red from her encounter with his father. He reached behind her, his fingertips trailing along the wall until they reached the light switch. A dim light filled the room, but it was bright enough for him to see her. Her eyes were closed and her hands were fisted into the fabric on the side of his suit jacket.

"Matsuri-chan," he said, trying to keep his voice soft and even. When she didn't open her eyes, he placed his hand back on her cheek. "Matsuri-chan," he tried again.

"Hmm?" The hum was tense and as she did it her grip on his jacket tightened more.

"Are you alright?"

She opened her eyes and allowed them to adjust to the dim light in the room. From over Kyoya's shoulder, she could see the faint outline of a desk and a chair. "Yes."

However, Kyoya knew otherwise. Her words and her actions didn't match. As soon as she said yes, her hands began to shake. Weather it was from frustration or because of how tightly she was holding his jacket, he couldn't be sure.

"What do you need?" he rephrased, as he caught her gaze.

Her answer came out as a soft whisper on her next exhale, and if he had not been so close to her he would have never heard it. "You."

The idea that someone needed him, for whatever reason, was unfamiliar to him. Especially, in this case. In this case, where she needed him to calm her was very unfamiliar. He never thought of himself as someone that could calm anyone.

However, as foreign as the idea was, he accepted her answer and kissed her. His lips touching hers gently, catching her bottom lip between his, just like on the breezeway. Then again, as her hands began to loosen on his jacket. And again, as one of his hands fell from her face and to the curve of her hip. And again, as her hand released the jacket fabric and found its way to the white shirt under his jacket. And again, as her warm touch sent a chill through his body and he pressed himself closer to her. And again, as her body reacted, her chest pressing into his as her back arched. He gently caught her bottom lip between his teeth.

"Kyoya," she moaned into the quiet room, her chest pressing against his again.

 _Kyoya._ Just his name. His name. No honorific. Just Kyoya.

That single word, one that he was used to hearing so often, undid something in him. The use of his name undid him. Undid any control that he had over himself and the situation. She'd undone him with the use of his own name. His own damn name.

He caught her lips in his again, harder this time, pressing her back against the door. Both his hands settling on her hips. Matsuri reached up, pushing the black jacket from his shoulders. Without taking his lips off of hers, he rolled his shoulders back helping her take the jacket off. Then it lay on the floor at their feet, forgotten, as her fingers worked to untuck his shirt. Her fingertips brushed against the pale skin of his stomach. Kyoya pulled away from her as he inhaled sharply. He pressed his hand to the door beside her head and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, to regain control of the situation.

Matsuri pushed herself to her tiptoes. Kyoya watched her as she brought her lips to the tender skin of his neck. The hand on her hips tightened, his fingers digging into her skin as her soft lips trailed across his pale skin. Just as he thought he was starting to regain control of himself, she nipped at the skin just above his collarbone. He groaned and closed his eyes, her teeth trailing on the sensitive skin on his neck. Until he couldn't bear it and pulled her off the ground and into his arms. Instinctively, her legs wrapped around his waist, her fingers tangling in the hair at the nape of his neck as he kissed her again.

Kyoya turned, pressing his back to the door. His hands grasping at her thighs to support her. Her skin was smooth. Soft, under his touch. He wasn't quite sure what he expected her skin to feel like.

She broke their kiss, leaning her forehead to his. Their gazes met as they breathed heavily. Matsuri's hands moved from his hair and to the buttons on his shirt. Slowly, and without breaking their eye contact, she unbuttoned them one by one. Her fingers working skillfully to do so. Kyoya's grey eyes were darkened as he watched her. When she undid the final button, he kissed her again. Again, she pushed the fabric off his arms. He turned them again, pressing her back to the door as he helped her take the shirt off his arms. Then it was on the floor, right next to his jacket.

Kyoya reached behind her, his fingers finding the zipper on the back of her dress. Gently, he pulled the zipper down. The sound filling the room. Matsuri moaned again as his cool fingers touched her warm skin, pressing her lips to his harder. He pushed her sleeves off her arms, revealing the bare shoulders. He broke away from their kiss. His eyes trailing over the skin that had been exposed to him. His slender fingers moved up her back and unclasped her bra. He stopped, his fingers trailing down her bare back, his eyes holding hers, as he gently set her back on the ground. Matsuri rolled the sleeves down her shoulders, letting the dress, and her bra, pool at her feet.

Kyoya inhaled sharply, taking her in. He had been to many art exhibits, where he looked at sculptures of beautiful women. Their curves and their figures. However, he had never seen anything, anyone, as beautiful as her. His hand moved down her arm, catching her hand in his as he pulled her towards him.

The sensation of skin on skin was something new to him, to the both of them. It wasn't until then that he realized just how warm her body was, and how much he enjoyed feeling it against him.

"Kyoya," she muttered against his lips.

This, their relationship, may have been the one thing that he did that was purely for himself. There was no benefit to the Ootori Medical Group by pursuing her. There was no benefit to the Host Club. In fact, pursuing could have done more harm than good to the club.

The only person to benefit from their relationship was him. He was the only one that gained anything from this. There was no need for a cost benefit analysis as he picked her up, her legs around his waist. There was no need to stop and think as he dropped her on to his bed, in a most unceremonious way. There was no need to consider the company as he allowed her to remove his belt and pull her over him.

There was no need to think about this moment. A moment that just like every other moment between them, just happened. He did not intend to have her in his bed, pulling off her simple black underwear. He didn't plan to have her under him, her hips rolling against his as she kissed him.

This was by no means planned. Just as their friendship wasn't planned. Just as him finding that he enjoyed the sound of her laughter wasn't planned. Just as him becoming so enchanted with her wasn't planned.

But it had happened.

* * *

"Kyoya," Matsuri's quiet voice questioned in the dark hall. The use of an honorific seemed a little unnecessary. She liked the way that his name rolled over her tongue. Just his name.

"Hmm," he responded as they walked. A chill ran through his body at the extreme familiarity of her speech. There were few that called him just his name.

"He's here."

Matsuri had called her driver, one that she trusted with her secrets, and gave specific instructions. Arrive at the Ootori estate and turn the headlights off. Send a text when you get here and I'll come out through the back.

"Good," he replied as he led her down the hall.

Matsuri tailed behind him quietly, their fingers laced together as they walked. This hall was just as sparsely decorated as the others. A few portraits on the walls, but that was all. They walked down a staircase in the back of the house and out of the back door. The night air was chilly and instantly Matsuri's lace covered arms were chilled. Kyoya took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders, before pulling her against him. She laughed as she settled into his embrace while they walked to her car. Carefully, they avoided the light from the windows so not to cast shadows in the night.

"I didn't think you snuck out, Ootori-san," she teased as they approached her car.

"I don't, but I do know that being seen in this," he smirked in the night, "situation would be most unpleasant."

Matsuri laughed and placed her hand on the handle of the car door. She hadn't realized that this would be the most awkward part of the night. Saying goodbye was never a problem with them, but now… She bit her lip as she looked up at him.

"I think that my father is quite fond of you," Kyoya teased as he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"I'm sure he is."

He kissed her. "Goodnight, Suri-chan," he whispered to her as he opened the car door. "Thank you," he said to the driver. "Lights off until you get to the main street."

"Yes, Ootori-sama," the driver agreed. Matsuri rolled down the window and closed the door quietly.

"Goodnight, Kyoya-kun," she said out of the window.

While the use of honorifics wasn't needed between the two of them, and possibly while around close friends, she knew they were still for show around others.

"Goodnight," he said again as the driver pulled off and she rolled up her window.

As he watched the car disappear into the darkness, a smirk found its way to his lips and he pushed his hand into his pockets as he started back to the house. If he focused hard enough, he could still feel her hand in his, or her lips on his. He was suddenly hit with the overwhelming desire to see her again. Despite the fact that she had just left. Why? He'd just seen her; all of her, and he wanted to see her again. To just be with her.

He realized that he was being ridiculous. That there was no reason to feel this way. Kyoya stopped in his tracks when the realization hit him.

He loved her.

The realization hit him harder than he'd expected it to. He stood on the dark lawn, biting his lip as he let the realization set in on him.

He loved her.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hi! So I did a thing and I hope it's well written because I didn't want to go to graphic with it, but I also wanted it to be clear what was happening. So I hope it was. I'm not going to lie, I really enjoyed writing this chapter, because it was just fun. It was just really fun to write the Ootori's. So yeah, let me know what you think about that with a review. But! So that happened! I hope that wasn't too predictable. I didn't even know that was going to happen until after I wrote it! I'm also really sorry this chapter is so long. It's like 11 pages and I tried to find a good place to end up, but I couldn't. I don't even like how I ended it, but 11 pages was a lot to proofread and look over. So school will be starting up in a few chapters, but not before the Host Club has a summer outing with some princesses. Look forward to that in the next chapter. And don't worry. You haven't seen the end of Yoshio. Who does Matsuri think she is, getting smart, being her naturally witty self, with him? We'll see. Leave a review!

 **~ Nikki**


	18. Chapter 18

Her cell phone vibrated on the coffee table in front of her. Briefly, she looked away from her textbook and towards the caller ID. After seeing who it was, she turned her honey-brown eyes back to the textbook on her lap, her eyes settling exactly where they had left off.

"Are you going to answer that?" his tenor voice questioned.

Matsuri looked over the top of her textbook and towards the person that had spoken to her. The dark haired girl had her legs crossed and lying across his lap, while he rested his textbook on her shins. Kyoya had not looked away from the textbook he had propped up on her legs as he spoke to her. In fact, she was sure the he hadn't stopped reading. Matsuri shifted her legs on his lap, causing his textbook to close.

"That was childish, Matsuri," he scolded, however the smirk on his lips betrayed him.

She looked back down at her book before responding, "I don't know what you mean."

Her phone vibrated on the table again and she sighed, closing the book on her thumb. "Tamaki-kun?" she answered, a twinge of irritation in her voice.

"Is Kyoya with you?" he asked.

Matsuri took the phone from her ear and handed it to Kyoya, who only briefly looked at her before taking the phone. With a sigh, Kyoya brought his index finger and thumb to the bridge of his nose. "Yes?" He paused. "There's a reason that I'm not answering my phone, Tamaki." Another pause. Matsuri turned her attention to the textbook on her lap. "I'm with Matsuri-chan," Kyoya replied. "No, she does not want to." Kyoya rolled his eyes. "I don't need to ask her."

"Ask me what?" she mouthed, closing her book completely.

"If you want to participate in Tamaki's games," he replied.

"Games?"

"Shenanigans," he provided. "No, she didn't say yes." A growl developed in the back of Kyoya's throat, one that even startled Matsuri. "Tamaki- "

Matsuri reached over and took the phone from Kyoya's tightening grip. She placed her hand in his, allowing him to calm himself, without having Tamaki in his ear. "Tamaki-kun, what are you talking about?"

"I need Kyoya to come and help plan the summer party for the Host Club. We have to get invitations out and food ordered. I asked him if you wanted to come and he won't ask you." Tamaki sounded so rejected and she was sure that he was pouting like a puppy.

"Alright," she replied, her tone resigned. From the corner of her eye, she saw Kyoya roll his eyes, knowing what was going next. "We will be there soon." By the time, she hung up the phone, Kyoya had already shifted her legs off his lap and stood from the sofa. "I'm sorry."

Kyoya looked down at her. He knew that if he allowed Tamaki to talk to her, she would give into him. He reached out and brushed his fingers against her cheek. It wasn't her fault. It was Tamaki's. "No need to apologize." Kyoya looked down at the watch on his wrist and sighed, pushing his glasses off his eyes to rub them. "Let's go, shall we?"

"Your driver or mine?" Matsuri questioned, as they walked out of the sitting room and down the main hall, shoulder to shoulder.

Kyoya shrugged, his arm brushing against hers. They stopped at the front door, where the key rings were. He reached over her shoulder and picked up a set of Nissan keys. "You drive."

Matsuri looked over at him and laughed as she took the keys from him, her fingers brushing against his. She gestured for him to follow her, as she walked out the front door and around the side of the house.

"Kinjo-sama!" One of the drivers exclaimed when he saw her. "Did I miss a call?"

"Hmm? No, I'm just taking the Nissan out," she answered, holding up the keys and unlocking the black car beside her. "No worries, Koji."

Matsuri slipped into the driver's seat as Kyoya climbed into the passenger side. Driving was something that she enjoyed to do. It was not a task that many of her friends could do. They never learned. It wasn't necessary did them. While Matsuri found it as a way to get freedom.

As they rode down the street, Matsuri rolled down her window, letting the wind blow through her dark hair. When she looked over at Kyoya he was typing something on his phone, and then he brought the phone to his ear. "Yes. I just sent a request to you. Can you push it to the top?" He paused, listening. "Thank you, Ai-San."

"What is Tamaki-kun planning?" she asked.

"A beach something or other," Kyoya answered with a wave of his hand. "I apologize for him dragging you into this."

"I'm sure it'll be fun," she told him brightly.

"I assure you that you will be bored to tears," Kyoya deadpanned.

Matsuri rolled her eyes at his tone, "How could anyone be bored with Tamaki-kun around?"

Kyoya glanced over at her, watching as she tucked her windblown hair behind her ear, only to have it blown right back into her face. He watched the smile play across her lips, and found himself smiling as well. It always seemed that happiness just came so naturally to her. Not only that, but that she was able to share her happiness so readily.

"What?" she asked when she finally registered that he was watching her.

"Nothing."

They slowed at the gate of the Souh estate. "How can I help you?" a lazy voice asked through the intercom at the gate. A camera swiveled to look at the car, the lens whirling as it zoomed in on the occupants.

"It's Ootori Kyoya," he said in an equally lazy manner.

"Ootori-sama, of course."

The large golden gate opened instantly, and Matsuri drove through with no further questioning. The Ootori name had a lot of pull. It could get anything done. It was a powerful name. One that suited Kyoya well for he was a powerful man.

Tamaki came bounding out of the front door as Matsuri pulled up. He was followed closely by the twins, Mori-senpai - who was carrying Honey-senpai on his shoulders, and Haruhi bringing up the rear.

"Matsuri-hime!"

"Tamaki-kun," she greeted as he pulled her car door open.

"Thank you for bringing Kyoya. He's been avoiding my phone calls," the blond boy whined, pointing an accusatory finger at Kyoya.

"For good reason, Tamaki. I did not want to be bothered," Kyoya responded. "However, I suppose that my duties as the club's financial manager never end."

"It's good to have another girl here," Haruhi commented and she threaded her arm around Matsuri's. "The boys are a handful."

"How did you ever function without me?" Matsuri teased as they walked in the front door. "What are we planning?"

"A beach party for Saturday!" Tamaki announced.

"This Saturday?" Matsuri asked.

"Yes!"

"It's Wednesday, idiot," Kyoya continued for Matsuri.

"Then we had better get to it!" Tamaki continued loudly. "Hikaru, Kaoru!"

"Yes. Boss!" the twins said when they were called upon.

"Go find paper for the invitations. Nothing too thin, we only want the best for our guests. Mori-senpai, Honey-senpai, go to the cake shop and select one of the finest cake. Kyoya, pull a list of all the addresses of our customers. Haruhi, keep Matsuri-hime entertained!" Tamaki looked around at his troops. The twins stood saluting him while Honey-senpai looked as if he wanted to run to the cake shop. Kyoya stood beside her, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "And break."

"Yes, sir!" the Host Club members shouted, save Kyoya, as they went about their tasks.

"Kyoya already ordered food," Tamaki said as he approached his best friend. "Right?"

"That is correct. I sent the order in on the way over." Kyoya didn't look up from his phone as he spoke. "Excuse us will you, Suri-chan?" Kyoya said, his grey eyes darkening as he turned his attention to Tamaki, who was now cowering in the corner. "I trust you're in good hands with Haruhi."

Matsuri nodded and started out of the room with Haruhi trailing behind her. The two girls made their way back outside to the front steps. They sat side by side, enjoying the suns warm rays on their skin. Matsuri looked over at her friend as they sat in silence. Haruhi was a very pretty girl, with her large brown eyes and round face. Her short hair had started to grow out over the summer, but she decided to wait to cut it.

"You're staring, Matsuri-senpai," Haruhi told her. "What is it?"

"You're quite pretty," Matsuri told her with a shrug. "Whenever you're ready for the school to know, the boys would adore you, just as the girls do."

Haruhi blushed and ducked her head. "Thank you, senpai."

Something in the house shattered and both girls looked over their shoulders, but neither moved. They shared a smile and turned back to look over the lawn. They both knew what was happening. Kyoya was tearing into Tamaki for his poor planning and late notice for such a large event. It didn't take a genius to figure that out. Neither of them wanted to involve themselves with that. Kyoya could be most unpleasant when he was upset.

"He called you 'Suri-chan'," Haruhi stated.

Matsuri bit back a smile and looked down at her shoes. "He did, did he?" she responded, hoping that playing like she didn't notice would work well. Haruhi looked over at her, her large brown eyes saying that she wasn't buying that. "Alright, alright. Yes. He calls me that."

"Since when," Haruhi questioned. Matsuri looked up toward the sun, squinting at its brightness. "I don't mean to pry."

"No, no, you're not prying. We're friends, remember," Matsuri responded. "Since," Matsuri cheeks reddened, thinking about that night. The night when he first called her Suri-chan. "Since about a week or so ago."

Haruhi studied her friend, trying to find the reason that her face was red just from thinking about a nickname Kyoya called her. Trying to read between the lines of the information she'd given her. Matsuri's gaze was distant, as if she were remembering something, and then she bit the corner of her lip, smiling. "Did something happen between the two of you?"

"Yes."

"I see," the female host said quietly.

It was difficult to tell what was happening between Ootori Kyoya and Kinjo Matsuri. Kyoya kept everything about his personal life very quiet. He played his cards close to his chest and kept a solid poker face about everything. Matsuri was similar. While, she wasn't as secretive and mysterious, she did keep her relationship with Kyoya fairly quiet. Anything that she knew about Matsuri and Kyoya, it was because Matsuri offered the information or she'd asked. Maybe she was taking a card out of Kyoya's book and following his lead with keeping things quiet. With all the quiet, it was always hard to tell how their relationship progressed. There were little things that Haruhi would notice. Kyoya would brush against her as they walked and Matsuri's fingers would hook on his briefly. Or Matsuri would hold eye contact with him, just a little longer than needed when they talked. Or when Kyoya would tuck her hair back behind her ear and Matsuri leaned into his touch. It was little things. Things that didn't happen before, that showed the progression of their relationship.

Haruhi started to say something about how fond Kyoya-senpai was of Matsuri. However, she decided against it. She was sure that Matsuri knew that Kyoya was fond of her. Despite Kyoya being a difficult person to read, she knew Matsuri knew her importance to him. Kyoya didn't let people in nor did he give affection easily. However, with Matsuri he did. So she was sure she knew how fond of her he was.

"What do you normally do?" Matsuri asked, she was desperate to change the subject. "I mean, when Tamaki-kun assigns tasks."

"I would have gone with the twins," she said with a shrug.

"To get paper," she teased.

"The paper is important."

Speaking of the twins, a black car pulled to a stop in the driveway and they climbed out, each carrying a large ream of paper. They were on a mission to get into the house and didn't even speak to the two girls sitting on the stairs as they moved pass them. Nor did they acknowledge them as they walked into the door and shut it behind them.

"Do you think they'll have us do the labels for the envelopes?" she laughed.

"Yes," Haruhi answered in all seriousness.

"Honey-senpai's not coming back from tasting the cake, is he?"

"Not anytime soon."

"Oh, Haruhi, my darling girl," Tamaki sang as he opened the front door. His blond hair was a little out of place, possibly from when he and Kyoya had their little spat. "Come inside and help us with labels! You too, Matsuri-hime!"

"I told you," the younger girl said, as they stood and walked back into the house.

Kyoya was sitting at a computer, typing away at the keys on the keyboard, and despite the fact that Tamaki had brought her in to help him, she found herself standing behind Kyoya. She gently placed her hands on his shoulders and watched his fingers moving swiftly across the keyboard.

"Hmm?" he asked, looking at her reflection in the computer's screen.

"Nothing, you just look like you're having so much fun," she teased as she rested her chin on the back of her hand. "Also, I don't want to help with labels."

"Be a team player, Suri-chan." His fingers continued to move across the keyboard.

"I have no motivation," she said dramatically. The corners of Kyoya's lips turned upward. "If only I had someone to take me to get something sweet after this hard labor."

"Will that make you go and be productive?" he asked her, finally turning his gaze to meet hers in the computer's screen.

"Yes."

"I'll see what I can do," he replied, before shrugging her off his shoulder. "Go be a team player." Matsuri sighed dramatically. "Without all the theatrics," he added.

"Fine." Matsuri made her way to where Haruhi was sitting. She was working diligently, taking the printed sticker labels off of the paper and laying them carefully on the crème colored envelopes in front of her. Matsuri settled down beside her and took a sheet of sticky labels and a stack of envelopes before mimicking her actions.

"Kyoya!" Tamaki shouted.

"Yes?"

"Take a letter," the blond boy demanded. Kyoya sighed and opened a document in the computer. "Dear Princess, You are cordially invited to the Host Club's Beach Party on this Saturday. While it is short notice, we truly hope that you will be in attendance. Please RSVP to Host Club President, Souh Tamaki or Host Club Vice-president Ootori Kyoya, as soon as possible. See you soon, The Host Club." Tamaki stood in the middle of the room rubbing his chin. "Read it back to me, Kyoya!"

The Hitachiin twins sat beside her watching as she placed the labels on the envelopes and listening as Kyoya read the letter back to Tamaki. She could hear the irritation forming in Kyoya's voice as he spoke. With every word, it seemed to grow more and more. She wasn't the only one that noticed, the twins did as well. By the time that Kyoya had finished reading, through gritted teeth at this point, the twins had made their way behind her, one twin peeking over each shoulder.

"Perfect!" Tamaki clapped. "Now, make the font pretty and swirly. Something to make it look nice."

"Like this?" Kyoya said, before Tamaki had finished his demand.

The blond boy bounced over to where Kyoya was sitting, taking the position that Matsuri had only moments ago. The difference being that Kyoya did not allow him to remain there, he easily shrugged Tamaki off her shoulder. The two boys discussed the design of the letter. Tamaki saying no, to every font that Kyoya selected, but not having any ideas for the font.

"They're a strange set of friends," Kaoru said as he took a label and placed it on the envelope.

Matsuri laughed. She often found herself thinking that same thing. Kyoya and Tamaki were very different people. Tamaki was the outgoing and bubbly type of person. While, Kyoya was the opposite; guarded and mysterious. However, it seemed that as different as they were, they were two side of the same coin. "Yeah, they are," she commented, not pushing the conversation any further. "Hey! Why is my address on one of these labels?" The dark haired girl questioned loudly, waving the sticker around on her index finger.

"Well, you are a girl that goes to Ouran," Hikaru told her as if it were the most obvious thing. "Kyoya-senpai got a list of girls that attend Ouran. You're on the list."

Matsuri sighed, resigned. "Fine."

She stuck the label, her label, on the envelope, her envelope. It was odd to see her address printed on the label looking back at her. She'd nearly forgotten that Kyoya had all of the information he could ever desire at his fingertips. He could find whatever he wanted.

As they finished labeling the envelopes, Tamaki handed them a stack of papers. The letter that Kyoya had taken. Immediately, all the members of the Host Club, except Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai who has still not returned from the cake shop, and Matsuri started to tuck the letters into the envelopes. The task was tedious, and made more tedious by Tamaki's constant distractions.

Eventually, they finished. All the envelopes had letters folded into them and were sealed. Tamaki had someone come to pick them up and ensure their delivery no later than tomorrow afternoon. It was nearly four in the afternoon when the letters were taken from the sitting room, the delivery person had a large task on their hands.

"Good work!" Tamaki exclaimed as he patted them on the back in turn. "I have to go fetch Honey-senpai from the cake store," he told them as he made his way outside. "Come along, Haruhi."

The female host sighed deeply as she moved away from Matsuri, her eyes playfully pleading for help. Matsuri shrugged, unable to do anything about Haruhi's current situation.

She and Kyoya said their goodbyes before heading to her car. Matsuri's fingers were a little sticky from the residue of the sticker labels and she had a few papercuts on the tips of her fingers from folding all the letters. She sighed deeply as she started the vehicle.

"Did you have fun?" Kyoya teased.

"So much fun," she said before yawning.

"Tired, are we?"

"Hush."

Before she pulled away from the house, Kyoya placed a crème colored envelope on her lap. Matsuri looked down at it. "To save the deliverer some trouble," he told her with a soft shrug.

"How considerate of you, Ootori-san."

"I cannot promise you the same arrangement as before, at the summer ball. I cannot promise you my undivided attention for this event," he told her bluntly. "Will that be a problem?"

"You hosting?"

"Yes," Kyoya's answer was short and immediate. When he wasn't given an immediate response, he continued, elaborating on his answer. "I cannot promise that I will be able to avoid my duties as a host. However, I can promise that I won't let anything inappropriate occur." Matsuri's eyebrow shot up, causing a crease in her forehead. She hadn't even thought of that. What did he mean inappropriate? Kyoya reached over and smoothed out the wrinkle on her forehead. "You trust me, do you not?"

Matsuri bit the corner of her lip as she pulled away from the Souh home. "Why wouldn't I?" she responded, her eyes meeting his in the rearview mirror.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hi! So I know that I said that this would be the Summer Party chapter, but I felt like I needed there to be a break in the action. I didn't want to do two chapters that had a lot of plot, back to back. So I made this planning, filler chapter. By the way, I apologize for the long filler chapter. I got carried away. But I always like Matsuri and Haruhi interactions. They are fun to write. Anyway, you get a little foreshadowing in this chapter, well at the end of this chapter. Let me know what you think with a review!

 **~ Nikki**


	19. Chapter 19

"Welcome to the Host Club's Summer Beach Party!"

Tamaki's announcement was greeted by the cheers of the ladies of Ouran Academy. Despite the late notice, nearly all, if not all she'd ask Kyoya for the specifics later, of the ladies invited showed up. Of course, she shouldn't' have expected anything else. Whenever Tamaki called, the girls of Ouran came running.

Tamaki had informed the guests that they would all receive a chance to speak to whichever host they wished, and that both Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai were available to host them. This made the ladies of beach cheer louder. The girls of Ouran Academy loved Honey-senpai and a chance to have him host them once more was a dream come true for many of them. With that information, Tamaki stepped off the large rock formation he had been using as a stage and into the crowd of women.

"Suri-chan!" Honey-senpai cheered from his position on Mori-senpai's shoulders.

"Honey-senpai, Mori-senpai," she greeted. "How are you?"

"Great, I have cake," the blond boy pointed down to his cousin's hands where there were two slices of cake. "Two slices might not be enough though," he said, his eyes looking a little sad.

And just like that, a flock of girls dressed in their swimwear came over to where the three them were standing, all holding slices of cake in their hands, shouting Honey-senpai's name. As they pushed around her, she stumbled backwards. She lost her footing in the loose sand beneath her.

"Shouldn't you be more coordinated if you play tennis?" his smooth tenor voice questioned as he caught her under her arms. Matsuri looked up, the light glinting off his glasses and a smirk playing on his lips as he allowed her to regain her footing.

"I probably should be, shouldn't I?" she responded. When she looked at him more fully, she saw that he was holding a notepad. "Are you," she looked completely outraged, "working right now?"

Kyoya arched his eyebrow as he looked down at her. "I have to make sure everything goes according to plan," he said with a shrug. He began to write something in his notebook.

"Are you writing 'girlfriend does not approve of work while on the beach'?" she teased as she tried to look over his arm into the notebook.

He chuckled. "Not at all." Kyoya closed his notebook and turned his attention to her. He took her in, his eyes trailing down her body, moving along the curve of her hips. The sun glinting off her skin. He reached out and pushed a strand of hair that had escaped from the high ponytail she was wearing her hair in. "I'm finished, for now," he told her.

"Joyous day," Matsuri said, her voice dripping with playful sarcasm.

Kyoya looked down at her, his glasses glinting in the light. "Matsuri-chan, was that sarcasm?"

"Of course not!" she exclaimed. "I'm truly happy that you are done with whatever you are always writing in that little notebook."

"You're a horrible actress," Kyoya said plainly.

"Kyoya-senpai."

Both she and Kyoya looked over at the voice that had called out to him. It was a younger girl with dark brown hair and green eyes, a member of the 2A class. She was wearing a white swimsuit that flattered her form quite well. When Kyoya's eyes met hers, she looked down suddenly.

"Yes?" he questioned, his hands folding behind his back quickly. He'd been in the middle of reaching towards Matsuri, but stopped when he was called.

"I was just wondering, if, well, if you're not busy, if you would host me?" the girl asked.

"Of course," he answered without a second thought.

A twinge of jealousy, like nothing that she had ever felt surged through her veins. It made her blood uncomfortably warm, and she clenched her hands into fists, trying to shake the feeling. Her brown eyes traveled over to the green eyed girl, standing there, her hands clasped in front of her with an expectant look in her eyes. Matsuri's eyes scanned her over. She was cute. Petite like Ami with a round face. The swimsuit she was wearing flattering, exposing the curves of her small figure. In a moment of insecurity, Matsuri glanced down at her swimwear. It wasn't unflattering. But she found herself wondering if it would look better on the girl with the green eyes. Slowly, Matsuri started to relax her hands, upon realizing that she was digging her fingernails into the palm of her hand. This was what he meant when they were leaving Tamaki's place. _I can't promise you the same arrangement,_ he's said _._

 _"_ I'll just," she started to back away, awkwardly gesturing over her shoulder.

"Matsuri-chan," Kyoya's smooth voice called to her. The raven haired girl looked up at him, her cheeks red. "Hold on to this for me, will you?" he asked as he extended his arm. the black notebook between his fingers.

"Of course," she replied tensely, trying to keep her tone pleasant. Her fingers brushed against his as she took the item from his hand, she couldn't have helped it even if she had tried. He was holding it in a way that made it difficult to take it without touching him. His grey eyes met hers as she crossed her arms over her chest, and she couldn't help the small smile, the very small smile, that played on her lips - despite the fact that she was still very jealous and upset and a flurry of other emotions that she couldn't identify at the moment.

With that she turned on her heel, the action leaving a mark in the white sand and left. Over the sound of the waves washing on to the shore, she could hear him speaking to the green-eyed girl. His voice had a distinct difference to it. When he was talking to her, there was a hint of warmth to his smooth tenor tone, an unseen smile in his words. However, with this girl, the one with the nice body and the green eyes, he was more business-like, cold even.

"Ida-san?' Kyoya's voice said.

If her blood wasn't already so warm, she was sure that it would have heated again. Eager to get away from him and the girl he was hosting, she walked a bit faster, putting more pep in her step. However, she felt like she could still hear him talking to the girl, this _Ida-san_. Damn her being so tuned into his voice. She huffed loudly, rolling her eyes.

"Senpai?" With her face reddened, she turned to face whoever had just called out to her. "Are you alright?" Haruhi took a step away from Matsuri, seeing the frustrated expression on her face.

"Haruhi," the older girl said, exhaling. "I'm fine."

"You look kind of red," Haruhi pushed. "Would you like me to fetch an umbrella to shade you from the sun?"

Matsuri lowered her eyebrows in confusion, but upon remembering that she was on the beach, she shook her head. "It has nothing to do with the sun."

"Is it because Kyoya-senpai is hosting Ida-san?" Haruhi questioned knowingly.

Before she could ask how she knew, Haruhi gestured over Matsuri's shoulder. Cautiously, Matsuri glanced over her shoulder. Kyoya was leaning against the rocks, his arms crossed over his chest, a neutral expression on his face, while the girl, Ida-san, was standing in front of him, smiling. Ida-san reached out and touched Kyoya's arm, a bold, flirtatious gesture. Kyoya took her hand from his arm, holding it between his hands for a moment, saying something to her with his Host smile, before letting it drop between them. Matsuri turned away from them, finding something interesting in the sand.

"It's okay," Haruhi offered. However, Matsuri was not buying into it. "He's just hosting."

Wasn't he _just_ hosting her when all of this started? When their paths became so intertwined, wasn't he _just_ hosting her? Matsuri huffed again, she glanced down at the notepad in her hands. She pushed it away from her chest, allowing Haruhi to look at it too. It was no mystery that Haruhi had always been curious as to what Kyoya spent all his time writing. They looked down at the words on the page. Well, most of them were numbers and charts; something affecting something to cause something or other. The number of guests on the beach. The amount of police that would be needed to be on call.

 _Trust me?_

The two words were at the bottom page, in Kyoya's neat handwriting. The question mark looked as if it were an afterthought. As if at first he was telling her to trust him. However, the question mark changed things. He was no longer telling her to trust him, he was asking her to.

"Well, do you?" Haruhi asked. "I mean trust him?"

"Yes. I do."

* * *

Kinjo Matsuri found herself alone after Haruhi was dragged away by her duties to as a Host. She'd tried to stay with Matsuri, who seemed to be dealing better with her new found jealously, however the girls that were pulling her away won. Matsuri let a small smile cross her lips as she watched the brown haired girl being pulled away from her. She lifted a hand and gave a small wave, one that Haruhi just barely had the time to return.

She made her way back up to the party, dropping the notepad that Kyoya had left in hr possssion into her bag. Briefly, she joined Ami near Tamaki. Ami only just barely acknowledged her friend, to absorbed in Tamaki's violet eyes and sweet words. Rolling her eyes, she made her way to the cake where he found Mori-senpai. When she asked what he was doing, he said bringing Mitsukuni more cake. However, he told her she was welcome to join them. An offer that she refused upon remembering the amount of girls that flocked to Honey-senpai. Matsuri was never the type that really enjoyed being in a large crowd of people. Instead, she made her way back to her towel, hoping that Kyoya would be done hosting _Ida-san_ , the name still left a sour taste in her mouth, soon and he would come for her. However, when she glanced over in his direction she saw that that might not be the case. Not only was he hosting Ida-san but a few of her friends. He smiled, his Host Club smile, at them and carried on with his duties. Again, she felt her hand clench, her nails digging into the flesh of her palms. Damn him and his Host Club duties.

The raven haired girl left her towel and let herself wander as she took deep, even breaths. Eventually, her hands relaxed. She approached the space where the water lapped at the sand, letting the cool water run over her feet as it rinsed the sand away. Once she felt acclimated, she walked out further, only a few feet, before sitting down with her legs outstretched in front of her and her hands placed behind her to support herself.

She had calmed drastically since Ida-san approached Kyoya. However, she couldn't figure out why she had reacted so intensely. She knew that she was jealous, that wasn't a new emotion to her. She'd been jealous before. Jealous that Doi-san was getting better grades than her. Envious of other things that people had, no matter how rich she was there was always someone richer. However, she had never felt anything like she'd felt when Kyoya said that he would host Ida-san. She'd never felt her blood go from lazily flowing in her veins to racing within a matter of milliseconds.

Matsuri looked upward towards the cloudless sky. Her eyes scanning the expanse of blue, as if hoping there would be some sort of answer there. However, there was nothing. Not even a dimple in the sky to even begin to help her with this feeling.

Why was she so jealous? It wasn't because he was a Host. As Haruhi had said he was a host when she began to show interest. She was sure that he was hosting other girls the whole time.

Because they'd had sex? Because she had given him something that she hadn't given to anyone else, and couldn't give to anyone else? She felt herself begin to blush and was thankful that she was surrounded by cool water. Not that she was embarrassed by her choice. No, she didn't regret her choice. The whole experience was a bit unnerving, if she were being honest. From the moment that she confessed that she wanted, needed, him to the moment that she's started to roll his shirt off to the moment that he'd dropped her on his bed, looking down at her with his darkening grey eyes. However, it didn't quite end there. Of course, she was nervous about him undressing her and being with him. However, it ran deeper than that. She'd already let him in intellectually. He knew her thoughts, her ideas, her aspirations. However, he also knew her body, every cut, every scar. Ootori Kyoya knew her better than anyone else.

And there he was, the person that had seen her the most exposed, agreeing to host another girl.

Her hands fisted in the sand, at the thought.

There he was agreeing to Host someone else when she cared so deeply for him…

"Oh," Matsuri breathed, grasping the full picture.

Sure all those other things were factors in her jealousy. The fact that Ida-san was in a well fitted swimsuit. The fact that he had just agreed to host her without even a glance in her direction. The fact that she had made the choice to bare herself to him and he was hosting someone else. Well, that was a large factor contributing to her jealousy.

However, the reason, the main reason, her blood ran so warm was because he was hosting another girl while she was in love with him.

Matsuri brought her knees to her chest, resting her chin there and continued to mull over this new realization. It made everything start to make sense. The reason she was so comfortable around him. The reason that she felt a twinge of disappointment when he had to cancel a dinner plan due to business. The reason that she was elated when he called her and asked her to dinner. It made sense.

"Miss."

Matsuri looked up quickly. She had become familiar with the voices of all of the Hosts, even Mori-senpai's despite the fact that he didn't speak often, and the voice that had just spoken to her didn't sound like any of them. Her eyes met a pair of unfamiliar brown eyes. She frowned at the boy the eyes belonged to as her eyes adjusted to the sunlight. He had a smirk on his lips as he towered over her.

"You mind?" he asked. "Choshi Ryo," he introduced bowing briefly before he sat down next to her. Unconsciously, she pulled her knees closer to her chest, suddenly uncomfortable with the amount of skin she was showing.

"Kinjo Matsuri," the raven haired girl introduced, a slight bow of her head. It was only right to introduce herself, since he'd introduced himself.

"Pleasure. Are you here with the party?" he asked, gesturing back over his shoulder in the direction of the party. His fingers brushed Matsuri's bare shoulder, sending a chill down her spine. She nodded mutely. "Must not be good if it couldn't hold your attention."

"It's a great party," she replied, cautiously.

"There's a party off the beach, a local party," Ryo said.

"Yeah," she said. "Well, that sounds great. But I think that I should be getting back to my own party," she continued, carefully picking her words so not to offend. Matsuri stood, brushing the sand off her legs. "It was a pleasure to meet you."

Ryo stood as well, taking Matsuri's wrist in his hand. Not hard, but firmly enough to catch her attention. "Do you think I could come with you?" he asked, his grip on her slowly tightening.

"I don't think that would be ideal," she answered as she tried to pull away from him, but was unsuccessful. "Would you let me go?" she asked, trying to keep her voice even, but she failed. Every syllable shook.

Ryo pulled her towards him, more roughly than he had grabbed her and touched her dark hair. "You're very pretty," he said in response to her request. "You would be welcome at the party off the beach."

Suddenly, the gravity of her situation settled in on her. She pulled against him, trying to free herself, but her actions were in vain. Frantically, she reached her free hand over, pushing on the boy's chest with her palm. His arms reached around her, holding her waist. She heard herself call for help, shouting loudly. But she couldn't quite be certain what she said. In her frantic movements, she lifted her foot and brought it down on his. While it wasn't a significant amount, his grasp did loosen enough for her to pull away from him. Not expecting to have him loosen his grip, she continued to flail about. She stumbled in the direction she was moving in, falling into the sand, her hands just barely catching her weight.

"What are you doing to Suri-chan?"

"Are you alright, Matsuri-chan?"

The questions were asked simultaneously. One was directed to Ryo and the other to her. One voice, the one directed to her, she placed immediately as Mori-senpai's. The other, she thought she knew, but she wasn't sure. This voice was menacing, but somehow sweet. However, if Mori-senpai was there then the only other person that could have gotten there so quickly, was Honey-senpai.

"Matsuri-chan?" Mori-senpai tried again.

"I'm okay," she replied as she sat up. She pushed herself onto herself on to her knees, resting her hands on them. It took her a moment to gather the courage, or strength to look up.

"You're bleeding," he informed, gesturing to the left side of her face.

"It's okay," she assured as she brought her hand up to touch the side of her face he had gestured to. Her fingers came away wet and red. Her eyes focused on the blood on her fingers. "How-?"

"Mitsukuni wanted to play in the water. He heard you shout," Takashi replied.

"Kyoya?" Matsuri questioned. She suddenly felt rude for asking, not wanting to sound ungrateful for their presence, but Kyoya...

Mori-senpai made a gesture over his shoulder that she could just barely see out of the corner of her eye. "We sent a guest to get him," he replied quietly. By the time he finished speaking, she could hear soft footsteps in the sand, approaching them rapidly.

"Suri-chan," Kyoya replaced Mori-senpai in front of her, kneeling in front of her and reaching out to brush his hand against her face. Wordlessly, she leaned her forehead against his shoulder, balling her hands on her knees. Her body shook against him as she did so. He gripped her forearms firmly, grounding her. Slowly, Kyoya looked over her head towards where Honey-senpai was with another boy pinned beneath him. He stayed quiet for a long moment, allowing Honey to continue his beating. From the corner of his eye he could see a few members of his private police force approaching, slowing as they saw Honey-senpai. "That's enough, Honey-senpai. The police will take him from here." Kyoya then turned his eyes to the boy next to him, "Thank you, Mori-senpai."

The tall boy grunted in acknowledgement and then picked his cousin up off the sand. Two police members approached Honey-senpai's victim hurriedly as Honey-senpai stepped away from him. They lifted him from the ground and escorted him away. "Do you want me to save her some cake?" Honey-senpai asked, his voice light and sweet again.

"If you like," Kyoya said.

The two older boys left. Honey-senpai was comfortable on his cousin's shoulder as they walked, talking about cake. Honey-senpai's voice was light and happy, cake was always a good topic for him. He asked Mori-senpai what kind of cake Matsuri would like. When Mori-senpai didn't answer, Honey-senpai did, white cake. Kyoya agreed, that was exactly what she would want.

"Are you alright?" he asked her, trying to keep his voice even.

"Yes," she answered quietly.

"Let me see your face," he said, tucking his thumb under her chin. She shook her head, forcing her forehead against his shoulder. "Suri-chan." He lifted her head from his shoulder, and tilted her head. "Did he hit you?" he asked, running his finger under the cut on her face, his grey eyes darkening with unspoken anger.

"No," she replied as she leaned away from his touch, watching his hand fall between them. "No, I fell," she said.

Kyoya reached into the pocket of his swim bottoms and removed a white piece of cloth. "You're clumsy," he said as he pressed it to her face, observing how quickly the blood reddened the fabric. "You're upset with me," he informed. Kyoya was not the kind to ignore a problem or beat around the bush. He knew from the moment that she walked away that she was upset.

Matsuri rolled her eyes, suddenly disliking that particular part of his personality. "No, I'm not, well, I guess I was, but I don't know. I don't think I was really mad to begin with." Kyoya arched his eyebrow as he removed the cloth and looked at the cut on her face. His silence urged her to speak, making her uncomfortable. "I was jealous."

Kyoya looked surprised, and probably a little caught off guard by her confession. "I was jealous of _Ida-san_ ," she tried her best not to spit out the girl's name, "because you were hosting her," she blurted out. When he opened his mouth to speak again, she continued. "I know; you were doing your duties. I know. I'm being ridiculous, I know. I know all of that, but I was still jealous." She was speaking so rapidly at this point that she wasn't really sure if Kyoya was understanding her.

"Matsuri," he said quietly. "There is no reason for you to be jealous."

"I know, I know, I just said that. I know- "

"Matsuri, there is no reason for you to be jealous," he repeated again, cutting her off and holding her gaze. "Ida-san is of no interest to me nor are her friends, or anyone else for that matter. I am a host, so I will host, but trust me, my interest lies with you."

Matsuri blinked several times, absorbing what he had just said to her. _Ida-san is of no interest to me._ For some reason, she found herself smiling at that. So what if Ida-san looked nice in her white bathing suit that fit her form exceptionally well? So what if she had flirted with him? Although, she wasn't quite ready to let that one go just yet. Kyoya didn't care. He didn't come to Ida-san's aid. No. He came to her aid. They were of _no interest to him._

Kyoya removed the cloth again and sighed. "Will you come up to the house? You must have fallen on a piece of glass, it's fairly deep. It needs a stitch or two or a butterfly bandage."

"Okay."

Kyoya stood, brushing the sand off his bottoms, before pulling her up. He dropped her hand, handed her the piece of cloth, letting her hold it to her face to keep the blood from dripping on her as they walked. He removed his phone from his pocket and brought it to his ear, speaking lowly and quietly to the person on the other end. She'd assumed that it was Tamaki asking where he was and stopped listening to him. Instead, she focused her attention upward towards the sky, watching as a few wispy clouds moved lazily across the now orange sky. She glanced over her shoulder, looking at the sun setting into the ocean.

"Kyoya," she said as she reached out pulling at his arm.

"Hmm?" he asked, covering the speaker of the phone. He looked over at her and sighed. "I'll call you when we get to the house, Tamaki. Yes, she's fine."

"It's pretty, isn't it?" she asked as he approached her, pushing his hands into his pockets. He stood beside her close enough that he could feel her warmth on his skin.

"The sunset?"

"Yes."

"Oh, yes, it is," he answered. "Come on, there's a medic on standby at the house," he urged, reaching for her arm.

Matsuri laced her fingers with his, giving his hand a soft squeeze. "Just be in the moment," she advised.

"What?"

"You're always thinking about the next move," she told him. "Just be in this moment," she looked over at him, "with me," she added as an afterthought.

Kyoya was surprised by the fact that she knew him so well, although he shouldn't have been. Matsuri had a talent for that. For seeing right thought people and to their core. A talent that made him very uncomfortable and was the reason that he held her at arm's length at the beginning of their friendship. He was so used to being unreadable that the fact that she saw him, who he really was, scared him. And that made her interesting. So no, he shouldn't have been surprised by her accurate assessment of him and his constant state of planning. With a sigh, he stepped behind her, his hands finding her hips, and placed his chin on her raven hair.

"Thank you," she said as she leaned back against him.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hi! Thanks for reading! I don't really have a lot to say about this chapter… so yeah. Leave a review and let me know what you think.

 **~ Nikki**


	20. Chapter 20

The week before school resumed, Kinjo Matsuri dove into another rigorous practice schedule. Running outside in the early morning, taking in the beautiful Japanese sunrises and quiet mornings on the island. In the early afternoon, she would gather with her team at Ouran and run drills. Drills to improve reaction time, drills to improve the spin, drills to improve returns, drills to improve anything and everything. In the later afternoon, she and the team would do weights to strengthen their muscles. After they would leave to go home, she would stay for another half an hour and practice alone. Working on her serve and spin. Then she'd take a short run around Ouran's campus. Embracing the cool night breezes and the beauty of the campus.

By the time she got home, way after dinner had been served, she was so exhausted that most times she fell asleep before eating. Then she'd wake up in the middle of the night starving, and having to sneak into the kitchen, without turning on the lights, and pick through the contents of the fridge to find something to eat. Then lazily make her way back to her room to shower and go back to bed, only to wake up at six am to start all over again. The young Kinjo girl continued on this track for five days, back to back. Only stopping on Saturday morning, grateful that the team wouldn't be meeting in the afternoon, when she realized how incredibly sore she was.

"You're going to drive yourself to ruin," Kyoya said with a deep sigh.

Matsuri shifted in bed, wincing at the motion. "Not before you," she replied trying to find a comfortable position. At this point, she was lying on her side, facing the clock. _6:15 am_. "Have you been to sleep yet?"

The sound of Kyoya's desk chair squeaking greeted her ears. "No."

"No one ever died of a sore muscle. But people have died from lack of sleep," she informed, suddenly uncomfortable lying on her side. Her entire body was sore. Her shoulders were tight; her calf muscles were tense.

"Soak in the bath, Matsuri-chan," he demanded. "I can practically hear your discomfort."

"I would if I could get out of bed," Matsuri replied.

"If you didn't run yourself ragged," Kyoya said, letting his voice trail off, knowing she knew where he was going with his comment. "I advised you to lighten up on Wednesday."

Funnily enough, she and Kyoya had been having brief conversations at this time all week. During the day, she was busy with practices and he was either advancing on his studies, something Matsuri wished she could do, or doing something related to the Ootori Group. Then by the time she got home, she was too tired to even put her phone on the charger, yet along dial his number. So this time six am, when she was getting up and he was going to bed, was the time that they talked.

"I have to practice." Matsuri sat up slowly, rubbing her neck. "Ow. I've been lazing around all break."

"Don't strain yourself today or tomorrow," he said. "School starts Monday; you'll need to be functional."

Matsuri could hear Kyoya's sheets rustling as he got into bed. She pushed her sheets off her legs, feeling the strain in her arms. "Ow. Ow. Ow." She muttered while swinging her legs off the bed and placing her feet on the floor. "Ow. Ow."

Kyoya sighed. She could practically see Kyoya pinching the bridge of his nose and squeezing his grey eyes shut in frustration. "I'll send some over around noon."

Matsuri rolled her eyes. Any other person would have phrased that as a question, but not him. He didn't give her the option to say no. He was going to send someone weather she liked it or not. He was going to send someone even If she said no. Carefully, she made her way across the room. Making it to the bathroom door, she leaned her shoulder on the frame lightly. "Kyoya?"

"Hmm?" he answered on an exhale.

She'd managed to get to the bathtub and turn on the water, stopping the tub so that the hot water would fill it. "Thank you."

"You're most welcome," he said quietly.

"Want me to let you go?" she asked. She pulled off her pajamas, before slipping into the bathtub. Kyoya's side of the line was silent, except for the sound of his slow breaths. "Ow," she hissed as she lowered herself into the water. "Kyoya?" she questioned softly.

"Hmm?"

"Good night," she said with a soft laugh.

"Good morning," he replied, a soft smirk in his voice.

Matsuri ended the call and turned off the water with her foot. The bathroom was now silent, save for the sounds of her adjusting in the bathtub. The warm water relaxed her muscles, easing them, and in turn relaxing her. Matsuri exhaled, blowing across the surface of the water causing light ripples. With each breath, she felt the tension leaving her body.

* * *

"He knows we have our own masseuses?" Kinjo Hayate questioned as he watched a young woman dressed in black get into a black car outside of the estate.

Matsuri shrugged, feeling completely and utterly relaxed. "I'm sure that he does," she replied. "He's just making sure I'm okay."

"A normal person would have brought you tea and came to check up on you himself," her father countered.

Matsuri laughed, pushing the front door shut. A normal person? He was right. Anyone else would have come to check on her themselves. However, then again, a normal person would have gone to bed before six am. "That's just how he is," she told him. Kyoya showed that he cared for someone, truly cared for someone, with material things. That's what he'd been doing since they had started dating. Buying her dinner, taking her to get sweets, spending money on her.

"He's doting on you?" her father said, it was posed as a question, but she knew that it was a statement.

"Possibly."

Her father looked down at her. "You don't like to be doted on."

Matsuri rolled her eyes, a smile on her lips, and started away from him, towards the kitchen. "It's something that I can grow to appreciate."

Once in the kitchen, she opened the fridge and grabbed a cold bottle of water. She held it up offering it to her father. When he nodded, she removed another bottle and handed it to him. Gently, she hopped on to the counter of the island in the center of the room. She immediately regretted her childish action. The muscles in her arms twitched as she put all her weight on them. The Ootori masseuse was good at her job, possibly too good. She'd forgotten the she'd been too sore to move.

"You shouldn't sit on the counter," her father scolded as he moved to lean against the counter next to her. His scolding did not have a harsh tone to it in the least. In fact, he seemed to find her action amusing.

"Ah, it'll be fine," she laughed, swinging her legs a little.

The Kinjo's were silent together. Matsuri let her thoughts travel to Kyoya. She made a mental note to call him when she finished here, not that she needed to make one. She would have contacted him anyway, just because she enjoyed talking to him.

"Have you decided on where you will be attending University?" her father questioned.

Matsuri looked down at the water bottle in her hands, the muscles in her neck straining lightly. "I have accepted my acceptance to Ouran University. I'm still waiting to hear back from the American schools. She squeezed the bottle watching the water rise. "I haven't made any decisions as of yet."

"I think Ouran is a fine choice."

That's because he and his father and his grandfather and his great-grandfather had all been educated at Ouran University. Of course he would think it a fine choice.

"I'm sure that it is," Matsuri replied.

Kinjo Hayate had made his stance on the University aspect of her life pretty clear. He would like it if she were to stay close to him or at the very least her mother. Since the night that her mother left, it had always been Matsuri and her father; they had grown close in the past nine years. Matsuri understood why he wanted her to stay. She was the one thing that kept him from being a complete workaholic. If she wasn't there, he would live in his office. The quiet in the Kinjo home, since her mother - his wife - left, was too much for him to handle. Even with Matsuri, the silence was deafening.

"Has Ouran reached out to you about the University tennis team?" he questioned, changing the subject.

"It was mentioned in the email that I received from them when I accepted," she said. "The University's sensei's email was attached to my email. If you have any questions on the athletic program, please contact so and so."

"Have you contacted the Sensei."

"Yes, he said that he will be at the match between the public school, um, Higashi High. That match is three weeks into the term. After that he said that he will offer scholarships to those in need and potential places on the team to those without."

Her father grinned, clearly proud of the girl on the counter. When she was growing up, he had been very concerned with how she would turn out. He always had work to do and it was difficult to raise a child alone. However, Matsuri had always been a well behaved mild mannered girl, and for that he considered himself to be very lucky. She could have been a handful, causing trouble at school and getting into mischief. But she didn't. She studied a little too hard and played tennis a little too much. Which in hindsight, he realized was her way of coping with the situation at hand. Burying herself in books and playing tennis until she was too tired to think of anything else. However, her coping strategy was a good one. It improved her academics as well as her playing ability.

"I think they are scouting at Lobellia as well," she said with a shrug.

With that Matsuri slid off the counter, careful not to put too much pressure on her arms. Talking about scouting and playing tennis, while she was physically unable to do so what starting to make her anxious. All she could think about was how much she was missing out on. Her backhand wasn't as strong as it could be. Her serve could have more power behind it. All these things that she couldn't fix because her body wouldn't allow her to.

"I'm sure they will not overlook you," her father said.

"Thank you," she replied, dropping her empty bottle of water in the recycling bin. "I'm going to go lie down; can you have Tora send my dinner up later?"

"Of course. Seven?" he asked as she leaned on the door frame of the kitchen entrance.

"Yes. Thank you."

Her father nodded as she exited the room and started up to her bedroom. Since she couldn't use these last two days to practice, she could at least study. Kyoya was miles ahead of her, having already completed the first several chapters in the calculus textbook as well as started in on the Physics II textbook. She was sure that Doi-san was going to come back this term with a vengeance, considering that she only had one term to get her spot back. Seeing as the running for class rank was so close between the second and third ranks, just as it had always been, she had no time to lollygag.

The raven haired girl settled down at her desk and opened her textbook. Within a few minutes of looking at the first chapter of her calculus book, she closed it. The amount of numbers and abbreviations on the page were overwhelming. No wonder Kyoya was so tired in the morning, looking at this all night would drive a person to tears. She opened it again, trying to understand. Writing the problems and trying to work them out, however it was without much success.

Matsuri huffed, grabbing her phone, and aggressively dialing his number.

"Do you feel better?" he questioned picking up on the second ring.

"How do you even understand this?" she asked, running her fingers through her dark hair tugging it at the ends.

"Understand what?" he asked.

"Calculus!"

Kyoya chuckled at her emotional outburst. She was so levelheaded and calm that it was rare to see her in such a frantic state.

"It's not funny, Kyoya!"

"Calm down," he suggested. "You're worrying about it too much. Look at it again tomorrow and it will make more sense."

"Tomorrow! Doi-san will have read the entire textbook by then and worked out all the problems," Matsuri said. The more she thought about it, the fact that she was behind on her studies, the more frantic she became. "I'll lose my spot, Kyoya! I just got this spot and – "

"Matsuri-chan!" he called over her. He didn't shout, merely spoke in a voice louder than his usual soft tone. However, it was enough to catch her attention and make her stop her rant. "You need to calm down. Put the book away and go lie down. Come back to it tomorrow."

Matsuri sighed, placing her head on the open textbook in front of her. She knew that he was right. He was Ootori Kyoya he was always right. She was much too stressed and frustrated from not being able to practice, and not having prioritized better over the summer, to focus in on her knowledge of anything math.

"I'll return to my original question; do you feel better?"

Matsuri lifted her head from the book quickly, suddenly embarrassed. She'd completely forgotten to thank him. "Yes, I do, thank you."

"Good," he replied. "Would you like for me to send her tomorrow as well?"

"No, no, I feel better already. I'll stretch tonight so I'm not tight in the morning."

"Did she bring the hot stones?"

"They were a dream," the girl sighed.

"I'm glad you approve," he laughed.

Matsuri pushed away from her desk and crawled into bed, burrowing under the blankets. "I have walked away from the textbooks." She looked over at the clock. _2:13._ "And now I have nothing to do."

"You're being dramatic," he told her.

"Perhaps I'll call Tamaki-kun. He'll come over and entertain me," she teased.

"Yes, he would. Of course, he'd never leave you alone afterwards," Kyoya informed indifferently. "Weigh your options carefully."

Matsuri rolled her eyes. "You speak so fondly of your best friend."

"I do try."

They lapsed into a silence. Matsuri listening to the sound of Kyoya's fingertips hitting the keys on his keyboard. She found that him typing was a very soothing sound. The sound of him typing was soft and quiet. Unlike her typing. The pads of her fingers hit the keys forcefully when she typed quickly.

"Should we get new tea cups and saucers for the Club?" he questioned. Matsuri was sure that he was just thinking out loud, so she remained silent. "Matsuri," he said.

"Yes?"

"The tea cups and saucers?"

He was asking her? He was actually asking her for her opinion on a Club matter. She was startled. "Um, I haven't really paid a lot of attention to the tea cups or the saucers."

"What where you doing all those times that you were in the Club room?" he asked. He was very aware of his surroundings. When he entered a room, the first thing that he did was examine it. Finding things of interest, things that could help carry conversation, how many cups and plates were set – if it was dinner, he took in everything. While he knew that everyone didn't, case in point Souh Tamaki, he figured that she was one of the people that did.

Matsuri was quiet for a long while, trying to form the answer to his question. She finally decided on the simplest answer. "I was watching you."

Kyoya's constant typing stopped. "Watching me?" he echoed, seeing if he had heard her properly.

"Yes."

The line between them was silent as Kyoya mulled over this information. She was watching him. He knew that she would occasionally steal a glance at him when she would sip her rose flavored tea. However, when he would look at her, she was looking across the room at Haruhi or the twins. But she was watching him.

"So no new cups?" he questioned changing the subject.

"Have you had them for more than a year?"

"There or about."

"Are any of them broken?"

"A few saucers and there's a cup or two that have a chip."

"Then get a new set." Matsuri offered with a shrug.

"You're so helpful," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I do try," she quoted.

She was still a little, very, caught off guard that he had asked her for her opinion on Club matters. Kyoya kept his dealings with the club quiet. It was rare that he asked the members of the Club what they thought of acquiring new materials, and he never asked anyone outside of the Club – at least not in a serious manner. He would rather handle things by himself.

Matsuri yawned, suddenly much too comfortable in bed and very tired.

"Get some rest," he told her. "That does not mean go and play tennis or go and try to do calculus. Stay where you are and get some rest."

Matsuri wanted to disobey, to get out of bed and find something to do. However, she couldn't. Her bed was far too comfortable and she was very suddenly far too sleepy to move. Instead, she burrowed deeper in to the bed, the sheets wrapping around her and pulling from under the mattress. "Fine," she muttered into the blanket.

"Will you come to the club Monday?"

"I have to practice," she replied quietly, her eyes closed. "The team will not train itself."

The chair at Kyoya's desk creaked. "I understand," he told her. There was an odd feeling in his chest when she'd said that she wouldn't be at the Club on Monday. He was… disappointed. "Don't push yourself too hard then either."

Matsuri rolled her eyes and laughed. "Goodbye, Kyoya," she told him before hanging up, laughing.

* * *

A/N: Hey! Sorry, this chapter took so long to get out. The semester ends in like two weeks and then I'll be able to get my creative juices flowing a little more. So yeah, there's that. Let me know what you think. Leave a review.

 **~ Nikki**


	21. Chapter 21

"Last first day at Ouran Academy," Ami gushed as she leaned against her raven haired friend's locker. Conveniently, keeping said raven haired friend from opening her locker. "Can you believe it? We've been here since we were kids."

Matsuri pushed Ami out of the way before putting her combination into the lock. "You knew that this was going to happen, Ami," Matsuri answered as she started to organize the books in her locker. Upon removing a book from the previous term, she saw a wilted lavender rose in the corner of the locker. A smile played on her lips. Ami's quick hand slipped into her locker and grabbed the wilted flower. "Ami!"

"You should throw this away," she said as she started towards the nearest trashcan, twisting the rose in her fingers with a disgusted look on her face.

"No! AMI!" Matsuri shouted as she snatched the rose from her friend's hand and tucked it back into her locker.

"Just ask for another one," Ami told her as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "He'll give you another."

He'd already given her another one; that night at the ball after he'd kissed her. That rose was sitting on her vanity. However, this was the first rose he had ever given to her. It was special to her, despite the fact that it was wilted and dead.

"It's…" Matsuri rolled her eyes and closed her locker unsure of how to answer her. She was sure if she said that it was 'special to her', Ami would laugh and tease her about it for all of eternity. "Just… Let's go to class."

"Ito-senpai, Kinjo-senpai," a voice called from behind them.

The two girls turned over their shoulders at the same moment, perks of having been friends for as long as they had been, and looked at the girl standing behind them. She had auburn colored hair, long and pulled into a braid that hung over her right shoulder, with a heart shaped face. Her green eyes were bright and excited, as if weren't the first day of term after summer vacation.

"Yes?" Matsuri asked.

"We are doing a video project on the 3A class for Film Club and we were wondering if we could film you, the both of you, sometime this semester?"

Ami clapped, clearly excited by the idea. "Yes! Matsuri, wouldn't that be fun?! It would be like we were movie stars."

Matsuri sighed, clearly she couldn't say no to Ami at this point, she was too far gone at this point. Her friend was now squatting in front of the young girl, who was writing down her name. "Sure, why not? It could be fun,' Matsuri agreed.

"I'm Soma Miyo," the girl said with a bow. "Thank you for agreeing to help the Film Club. We will only film at public events. Things like the graduating senior outings, dinners, anything else you want us to attend. Kinjo-san, we would love to film at one of the games, maybe what happens before the game for you as a captain and whatnot. Then each student that agrees will have a short interview session. Just thoughts about your last term. You'll get an interview at the start of term, so sometime within week and then one at the end of term, prior to graduation."

"That is going to be so much fun!" Ami cheered as she grabbed Matsuri's arm, jumping up and down.

"Thank you for your enthusiasm, Ito-senpai," Miyo smiled. "Kinjo-senpai, thank you for agreeing. You won't be sorry. I'll be in contact with you soon to start the first interviews." Miyo bowed again, before rushing off down the hall.

"We're going to be in a movie," Ami gushed as they walked into their classroom.

"It's a film for the Film Club," Matsuri corrected, taking her usual seat near the front, while Ami continued towards the back of the room.

"It's a movie," she sang before taking her seat.

Matsuri rolled her eyes and opened her notebook. Leave it to Ami to be so enthusiastic about being in a film. But that did suit her. She did always do the best in the spotlight, when all attention was on her. Ami could be a movie star; she had the looks of one. Cute face and bright eyes.

A tapping noise on her desk caught her attention, dragging her from her thoughts of Ami being a movie star. "Kyoya-kun," she greeted with a smile on her lips.

"Matsuri-chan," he greeted in return, his slender fingers brushing against the fresh page of her notebook, dangerously close to hers. "Are you feeling better?"

After sleeping most of the day away Saturday and sitting in her room and reading her book all day Sunday, she was quite relaxed. The muscles in her arms were still a bit tight, if she extended her arm too far or reached behind her, she would feel a twinge of pain. "Much," was her reply.

"Matsuri-hime!"

"Tamaki-kun," she replied as he kissed the back of her hand. His violet eyes level with her honey brown ones. "I heard you were ill," he whispered.

Immediately, she shot Kyoya a sharp glare. However, he was seated with his back turned to her, two rows in front of her and to her diagonal. "I wasn't ill. I was just tired. Kyoya-kun can be dramatic when he chooses to be."

"I hope you are well now," Tamaki continued, almost as if he hadn't heard a word that Matsuri said. He took both her hands in his and his violet eyes looked sad. "It would be awful to not see your beautiful face every day."

"Souh-san, please take your seat," the Sensei demanded as he walked into the room.

"Yes, Sensei," the blond boy said as he moved away from Matsuri and took his seat near Kyoya with a look of a scolded child in his face.

* * *

Kinjo Matsuri slid towards the s singles line tennis racquet in hand. Ignoring the tension in her shoulders, she pulled back and sent the ball flying back over the net towards Muso Tomoka. The ball hit right in front of the line before Tomoka returned it. Or at least tried to do so. She hadn't hit it quite hard enough to get all the way over the net. Instead, it hit the net and then fell back on to her side.

"Set," Matsuri said.

Her face was dripping with sweat and her hair was plastered to her forehead, her ponytail was stuck to the back of her neck. She reached behind her with her freehand and pried her ponytail off her neck, feeling the ends of her hair soaked with sweat. Across the court, Tomoka didn't look much better. She was sitting on the ground, red-faced and panting, her bangs stuck to her forehead.

Just as she promised, Matsuri stayed after to practice individually with Muso Tomoka. Tomoka was the first person to approach her and ask for her individual help, and she was the only one that received it. So no matter how exhausted she was or how hot the evening had proven to be, she would stay and play with the girl upon Tomoka's request. Monitoring the younger girl's technique and watching to see what could be improved upon.

"How do you do that?" the younger girl asked as she tried to regain her breath.

"It's," Matsuri coughed, her throat dry, "It's just something you have to learn." The older girl grabbed her water bottle and took a long sip from it. "Are you alright?"

"Yes-senpai. I just forgot what a good player you are," the girl said.

Matsuri kicked a few stray balls into the corner and shrugged. "It takes practice. You have gotten much better over the break."

"Thank you, senpai!" Tomoka said with a deep bow. "That means so much to me."

"You're welcome, Tomoka," Matsuri said, placing her hand on her head and ruffling her hair. "Let's hit the showers, we are quite a sight," she teased.

"Yes, senpai," the girl said. "Say, senpai, are you and Kyoya-senpai…" Matsuri arched her eyebrow and looked down at the girl, who immediately turned red. "I don't mean to be nosy. I just, well, we, my friends in the 1A class, we were just curious. We saw you, the two of you, at lunch today. He seems quite kind to you."

"We are," she said with no hesitation.

Tomoka frowned. "Suki will be quite upset to hear that. She's been wanting to request that Kyoya-senpai host her since last term, but he can be very intimidating and she always lost her nerve and went to Haruhi-senpai instead."

Matsuri laughed as she entered the locker room. She walked to her duffle bag, grabbing her towel and her bright yellow Ouran dress. "She can still request him. He's still a host," Matsuri told her as she turned on the shower. That was a lesson that she had had to learn the hard way. "But yes, he is a bit intimidating, isn't he?"

"A bit," Tomoka agreed.

Matsuri stripped off her practice uniform and stepped under the warm water. Kyoya, always scaring people off, glaring at them and making them feel small. However, that wasn't how she saw him, at least not now. Before he hosted her that day last term, yes, she saw him that way. Always absorbed in his studies and hiding behind a notebook. While he was still that Kyoya, that's not the only one she saw.

"He's not always like that," Matsuri told Tomoka. "Sometimes he laughs."

In the shower next to her, Tomoka laughed. "Kyoya-senpai laughs?"

* * *

 _Suri-chan,_

 _I have to go back to the office. I hope that your day went well. I've asked Nara to bring your dinner to your room when you return home._

 _Otosan_

That was the note that Matsuri was greeted with on the desk in her room. She placed in back were she'd gotten it from as she took a seat at her desk, pulling her textbooks from her bag and spreading them over her desk.

At some point, she'd gotten used to this. There were days when she would come home and she and her father would be walking out of the door. Kinjo Technologies introduced three new technologies every six months. The company prided themselves in their ability to produce novel technologies at such a rapid pace. However, the rapid pace of production made life hard for the workers and owners of the company. The two Kinjos passing, one leave as the other entered, happened fairly often this time of year. More so than either of them would admit.

"Kinjo-sama."

"Come in Nara," the school girl replied.

"I've brought your dinner to you." Nara's eyes fell on the raven haired girl at the desk, pouring over her textbooks. "You've just gotten here and you're already doing homework," the woman teased as she placed the food trey on her bed. "Please, come eat."

The raven haired girl looked over her shoulder at the maid. "Nara, I have to study."

"Well then, move your textbooks aside and let me sit this on the desk," Nara said. Her tone was soft yet stern. She had always been that way. She'd never shout. She never demanded. She just used a stern tone and things would just magically get done.

Matsuri sighed and pushed her book to the side, opening up a space on her desk for the food tray. "Alright, Nara. No need to shout," the girl teased. "Place it here," she said.

"You look very tired, Kinjo-sama," Nara said. "You should get some sleep. You expel too much energy during the day and you're not getting enough rest. You'll get sick."

"I'll be fine," Matsuri said with the subtle wave of her hand, dismissing the subject. "Thank you for dinner."

"If you need anything else- "

"I'll shout down the hall. I know how much you hate shouting and you'll be here in a hurry," Matsuri laughed.

"You're much too funny, Kinjo-sama," Nara replied as she exited the room. "Tray outside the door when you are finished," the maid said from the other side of the door.

"I know."

Her night was a simple one. She spent it with her nose in a textbook and chewing on her dinner. By the time, she looked up at the clock on the wall it was nearing eleven-thirty. The raven haired girl looked back at her book and then at the clock, trying to make sure that was indeed the time that she had seen. _11:31_. She pushed away from her desk and ruffled her hair. Leave it to her to study late on the first day of school.

Matsuri pulled off her yellow dressed and put her pajamas on. She wasn't really sure what she had just studied. She wasn't even sure what she had even read. She was sure that she didn't retain anything. The girl rolled up in her blankets and exhaled, falling asleep quickly.

* * *

 **A/N:** So I didn't really like the chapter that before this. It wasn't a filler chapter per say, it had some plot that will be important soon, but it wasn't exciting. So I'm giving you this one, which also isn't exciting, but it's a little something more. The next chapter is exciting and I'll have it up on Wednesday. So just hold on, the ride's about to pick up. Let me know what you think.

 **~ Nikki**


	22. Chapter 22

"Thank you all for agreeing to let us film you," the first year student called over the voices in the Film Club's meeting room as a way to silence the chatter. "This meeting will be very quick; we just need to go over some ground rules. As you all know I am Soma Miyo, the president of the Film Club. This is Tojo Eiji, the vice president. We, along with a few other Film Club members, will be filming you for a project for the Film Club but also for you all. You don't want to forget your friends and time here at Ouran. So each of you will get a copy of the video upon its completion."

"Yay!"

The room was filled to the brim with third year A class girls. There were a few boys sprinkled in the room, but for the most part the room was covered in yellow. Matsuri sat next to Ami tapping her foot on the floor beneath her. She'd agreed to push the teams practice time back a half an hour so that she could attended this meeting with Ami.

"I'm glad that the idea suits you," Miyo said. "There are just a few things we want to clarify. We will only film in public locations. So school events, like sporting events and dances hosted by the school, and school itself are free reign. Anyone in the third year class can be filmed at these functions; we've checked with the Chairman and he says it's fine. You all will get an interview at the start of term, we will start those today and finish them by next week, and at then again end of term. We'll ask a few questions and you'll answer." Miyo looked over her shoulder towards Eiji, who made a hand motion urging her to continue. "There is one location that we cannot film in, and that would be the Host Club," the girls booed viciously. "I know! I know! However, the vice president will not allow it. The Club sustains itself and does not receive any funding from the school."

Matsuri first felt Ami's eyes on her. Then Doi-san. The Akino-san She ducked her head quickly, hoping to avoid eye contact with the girls in the room. However, as the seconds passed she felt more and more eyes on her. Matsuri felt her face turning red and she tried to find something interesting on the floor. "Oh what is it?!" Matsuri shouted unable to take the entire room staring at her.

"Maybe his girlfriend will talk to him about," a brown haired girl said.

"Yeah!"

"Kinjo-san has to help us!"

The entire room agreed with the brunette girl. Ami, the traitor, was among them.

"It won't change anything," Matsuri muttered. "He's alreaady told you. The Club isn't a 'school event', it's a self-sustaining business. So the functions like the parties and the balls aren't school hosted, they are Club hosted." It wasn't until after she was done speaking, that she realized that she'd sounded exactly like him when she had answered them.

"Ask him anyway!" another girl shouted.

"Make him change his mind!"

"Maybe she wants them all to herself." That comment was not shouted, but whispered by the girl sitting behind her.

"Come on!"

"You have to do it!"

"You'd be a traitor if you don't!"

Matsuri stood from her chair suddenly, the legs of her chair scraping loudly against the tile, her ears ringing with the sound of their requests. "Stop it! Just stop it!" Her outburst was uncharacteristic and even Ami was caught off guard by it. Almost embarrassed, but not quite, she stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Instead of walking out towards the tennis courts, where she was meant to be, she made her way down the long hallway and towards Music Room #3. Without even thinking, she pushed the door open, waving away the falling rose petals that always seemed to accompany the opening of the door.

"Ah, Matsuri-hime," Tamaki greeted as she entered the room. However, upon seeing her red face and angry eyes, scurried away to hide behind Haruhi.

"She looks angry." The Hitachiin twins commented.

"Kyoya-kun?" she said under her breath.

"He's in the store room. Senpai, are you all right?" Haruhi asked.

Without answering, or acknowledging the female host, she started towards the store room. She flung the door to the room open, to see Kyoya kneeling down looking at the inventory of cups. Before he could look up, Matsuri had slammed the door behind her.

"Matsuri?" he questioned, looking up at her. Upon seeing her face, he stood placing his notebook on the shelf. "Are you alright?"

Matsuri stood in the room, her nails digging into her palms. What was she so angry about? Was she angry because Kyoya wouldn't let the Film Club film in Music Room #3? That was just like Kyoya. He wouldn't do anything that didn't benefit him. Or was she upset because the members of her class had all but demanded she use her relationship as leverage to get him to allow the Film Club to film there? Which was low within itself.

"I'm angry!"

"Clearly," he said. "Why?"

"Because your so profit driven! What harm would it do to let the Film Club film in here?" she snapped. She still couldn't quiet place what exactly she was angry at: Kyoya's profit-driven nature or the selfishness of her classmates.

The light glinted off his glasses as he looked over at her. His grey eyes narrowing behind the lenses. "Watch your step, Matsuri," he warned.

"Why; so I don't step on your toes?"

"Matsuri," he said again, his tone still warning.

"Everything that you do doesn't have to benefit you, or your company or the Club, in some way. You can do things for other people because it it's nice to do other things for people. You don't have to be so," she struggled to find a new adjective, but failed, "profit-driven, so selfish. Do something for someone else for a change."

Matsuri was breathing heavily, as if she had been running. She could feel that her face was warm but she paid no mind to it. She tried to take several deep breaths, but she was unsuccessful.

"You realize that you haven't helped your case at all," he told her, his voice low and even. "You realize that I cannot allow the Film Club to come and film here after they have sent you here to make me change my mind. They have sent you here to make me do something. What do I look like just giving in?" he questioned to her. Despite his low tone, his voice was ringing in the room, in her ears. She could feel his anger in every letter, rattling her bones. "What kind of businessman am I if I let them use you to make me do something? What kind of business man am I if I let them use you as my weakness? What does that say about Ootori Kyoya? So no, I cannot change my mind. The film club cannot film their third year documentary here. Unless they are willing to pay, which they said they are most certainly not, then there is nothing that anyone, you included, can do to change that."

Matsuri's eyebrows lowed in frustration as he spoke. She was frustrated by the situation as a whole, but more so because somewhere, deep down, she knew he was right. She shouldn't have come. She didn't help anyone by doing this. She realized that now. However, she couldn't just tell him that after she'd just come and shouted at him. So she turned on her heel and left the room, slamming the door to the Storeroom on her way out. She could hear Haruhi calling out to her, but she continued out of Music Room #3 and down the hallway.

There was a stinging in her eyes as she made her way to the tennis courts. She wiped the back of her sleeve over her eyes as she walked. Her walk turned into a fast walk which turned into a run. Her footsteps were heavy on the floor and she ran towards the tennis courts. Her vision was blurred by the tears that started to fall from her eyes.

* * *

Kinjo Matsuri struggled to get through 'd been easily distracted, caught up in her thoughts and the words that Kyoya had said to her. Due to that, she had missed several opportunities to correct technique and give advice. Instead, she just stood there, leaning on the fence with her eyes on the two girls playing. She was failing as a captain and she couldn't bear it. She wasn't the type to handle failure well.

"Senpai?"

"Yes?" Her voice was tight.

"Is it okay if we don't have a lesson today? I have some reading to finish for tomorrow."

Matsuri shifted her gaze to the young girl before her. Tomoka was looking up at her, expectantly. She was suddenly grateful to Tomoka. The raven haired girl doubted that she had any reading to do. She'd learned that Tomoka had the ability to read people very well. The younger girl could tell that Matsuri was in no mood for their post-practice lesson.

"Of course," Matsuri replied.

"Thank you!"

The Kinjo girl watched as Tomoka ran off to the locker room, waving over her shoulder as she left. Matsuri remained leaning on the fence, her left ankle crossed over her right, looking over the court. Carefully, she pushed herself off the fence and stepped on the rim of her racquet, making the handle pop into her hand. She retrieved a ball from the pocket of her pants and bounced it on the court.

Her serve was off; too powerful. She sent the ball flying clear over the white boarder around the court. The metal links of the fence clinked as the ball collided with it at full force. Frustrated, she popped another ball into her hand and served across the court again. The ball went out of bounds again. The more she hit the ball, out of bounds, the more irritated and frustrated she got.

Damn, Kyoya for being right.

Well not completely right.

But damn him for even being slightly right.

The Host Club was a business and he couldn't just change his mind because they sent his girlfriend to ask him to do it. If he did it then it would look as if Matsuri had pushed him into doing it. Which would in turn make her look like his weakness.

Of course, he didn't have to be such a complete ass about it. He didn't have to talk to her the way that he did. He didn't have to make her feel like she had done something so unbelievably wrong.

But then again, she didn't have to make him feel that way either. She didn't have to go into the Club room shouting. She didn't even have to talk to him about it at all.

* * *

"Kyoya."

"Fuyumi?" he answered from his place at his desk. "You can come in."

His sister pushed open the door with a food tray in her hands, smiling brightly at him. However, after looking at her youngest brother, she frowned as she closed the door behind her. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," he grumbled without looking up at his sister. He ran his fingers through his hair and exhaled roughly.

"What is it, Kyoya?" she asked again.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, his frustration reaching the brim. It had been building since Matsuri stormed into the Host Club, shouting at him about the Film Club. While he had been fiddling with idea of allowing them to film at Club functions, he couldn't now. He couldn't just change his mind because they sent his raven haired girlfriend to make him. Now he was stuck, and he hated to be stuck. It had only gotten worse when she left. Tamaki decided to stick his nose where it did not belong, asking him why Matsuri was so angry, despite Haruhi holding him back. All his pestering resulted in Kyoya pinning him to the wall, demanding that he be silent and then leaving the room. He figured that coming home and studying, burying himself in schoolwork, would distract him. He tried to submerge himself in Physics, and thing to get his mind off of Matsuri. But her words kept ringing in his ears, "profit driven", "selfish", "do something for someone else".

"Kyoya?"

"It's nothing," he said through gritted teeth.

Fuyumi placed the food tray on top of Kyoya's open textbook. "You missed dinner, so I thought I'd bring it to you."

"I'm not hungry," he replied as his sister sat down on the floor next to his desk "Fuyumi, please."

"What happened with Matsuri-san?" she questioned bluntly.

Kyoya couldn't hide the surprise on his face. Was it that obvious? Kyoya turned his gaze over to his sister. He sighed deeply, bringing his fingers to the bridge of his nose again. He wasn't sure if he could talk about it with his sister. He wasn't sure if he could talk about it with anyone. "She's found herself in a poor situation," he said plainly, not giving too much information.

"Has she?" Fuyumi asked.

Kyoya sighed, know that he had to answer even if he didn't want to. "We have found ourselves in a poor situation. One where business conflicts with pleasure."

"Did Father…"

"No, the Club," Kyoya corrected. "There's an issue at school, she's just found her way into the middle of it. Nosy little thing."

"You're upset with her?"

It dawned on him that Matsuri and Fuyumi were the same. They were both pushy and demanding. They never took no for an answer. They pushed until they got what they wanted. Knowing that about her, about them, Kyoya knew that it would be pointless to try and evade the subject. "Yes."

"Why?"

"She made it impossible to do what she asked me to do," Kyoya sighed. "She asked, actually she never asked me a single thing, she just shouted about wanting me to change my mind on a choice I made, but after someone had sent her to ask. You understand."

And she did. She was raised by the same man that raised Kyoya. She understood why Kyoya wouldn't want to go back on his word. It was the same thing father would do. "Well, what now?"

"Hmm?"

"You're in this situation, what now? How do you get out?"

That was the million-dollar question. "I don't know."

"Would you like my advice?"

"You're going to give it to me even if I don't, so why ask?" Kyoya questioned.

"Well, if you must know!" Fuyumi clapped. "Call her; never let someone you love go to bed angry."

Kyoya gasped audibly. "Someone I love?"

"Yes, Kyoya, someone you love. Don't let them go to bed angry."

"She won't answer."

"Sometimes, just the call helps," Fuyumi said wisely. "Even if she doesn't answer, she knows you cared enough to call." His sister stood and placed a hand on her brother's shoulder. "We fight for the ones we love, Kyoya. I'm sure that there is a way for you to give her what she requested without looking like she's your weakness." She tilted her head to the side and smiled at him before exiting the room. "Call her, Kyoya," she said as she closed his door.

He looked down at his phone for a long time. This wasn't rocket science. He just need to dial in her number and put the phone to his ear. However, he couldn't bring himself to do so. It would make him look weak, like he needed her. But didn't he? _We fight for the ones we love_. Kyoya sighed, picked up his phone, and dialed in her number.

It was just Matsuri. He shouldn't be so nervous. But he was. His palms were damp and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. It was just Matsuri. There was no need for all of this.

The phone rang and rang and rang, but she didn't answer. Feeling disappointed, he ended the call and placed his phone back on the table. He watched it, thinking that it would ring, but it never did. Kyoya got up from his desk and closed his laptop. He took his phone with him as he made his way to bed.

He continued to watch his phone, even in the dark, and as he fell asleep he curled his hand around the small device, letting an uneasy sleep find him.

 **A/N:** Hey! I finally got to an exciting chapter! I hope you really like it, because I really enjoyed writing it. It looks like there's trouble in paradise. Will they be able to put their pride aside and move on or with their stubbornness be the end of them? Let me know what you think by leaving a review!

 **~ Nikki**


	23. Chapter 23

Kinjo Matsuri yawned, rubbing her eyes as she struggled to put the combination into the lock on her locker. The numbers on the padlock wouldn't quite stay still and it took her several times to finally get the right set of numbers. She sighed deeply, resting her forehead on the now open door. She was exhausted. Sleep hadn't found her last night. Instead, she laid in bed all night, tossing and turning. And now she was paying for it. She climbed out of bed earlier in the morning after earning a maximum total of an hour of sleep. If the numbers on her padlock were already moving, she could only imagine what the rest of the day would be like.

"She didn't even ask."

"She's as stubborn as him."

Matsuri groaned, hearing the two girls talking as they walked by. They were talking about her. About the fact that they were under the impression that she hadn't gone to speak to Kyoya about letting the Film Club film at Host Club functions.

She groaned again, thinking back to her 'fight' with Kyoya. A fight that she picked because the people in her year had worked her into a tizzy. After thinking over it during the night, she realized that that had been the cause of it. The members of the third year class had pressured her, made her feel like it was her duty, to ask Kyoya about the film club. She got angry because she didn't like to be put on the spot and pressured. She, unlike Ami, did not like to be the center of attention. She didn't like it when everyone was looking at her and asking her to do things. She wasn't Kyoya's business partner. She was his girlfriend. She had had no desire to get involved. However, she felt pressured, and well, acting on that frustration didn't turn out to be the best idea.

Matsuri reached into her locker and grabbed her book. After looking at the spine of the textbook in her hand, she replaced it seeing as she'd selected the wrong one. She then closed her locker and was greeted by Haruhi's brown eyes.

"Haruhi," she said, stifling a yawn. "How are you?"

"I wanted to make sure you were alright. You left the club room in a hurry yesterday, and when Kyoya-senpai," Matsuri frowned at the mention of his name, "left the store room he looked angry."

Kyoya had called her last night. She'd watched her phone vibrating on her pillow with his photo displayed on the front screen. She'd sat with her legs crossed and her bottom lip firmly between her teeth. One of her hands hovering over the phone, fingers flexing to answer it. She didn't know what to say, and by the time that he had decided that she wanted to pick up, he'd ended the call on his end leaving her with her hand outstretched over a silent phone. She'd started to call back, but thought better of it.

"I'm fine," Matsuri replied running her fingers through her hair.

"Are you sure?" Haruhi pressed. Matsuri gestured for the two of them to start walking. Haruhi obliged turning on the heel of her shoe and walking alongside the older girl. "Senpai?"

"I'm sure. I'm just a little," she struggled to find a word, "flustered."

"Would you care to talk about it?"

"No.' Matsuri stopped outside of her classroom and flashed Haruhi a small smile, one that didn't meet her eyes. "I'm okay, I promise. Thank you for your concern, Haruhi."

"What are friends for?" the crossdresser replied as she touched Matsuri's shoulder and turned away. "Let me know if you need anything."

The raven haired girl walked into her classroom and made her way directly to her seat. She kept her head down so to avoid meeting the eyes of any of her female classmates. She still hadn't forgiven them for demanding that she go to Kyoya about the Film Club. She settled into her seat, keeping her eyes trained to the desk and pretending to not hear the girls whispering around her. Of course, she heard them. Whispering about how she wouldn't ask Kyoya to change his mind and how stubborn she was. Her eyes stayed on her desk as she opened her notebook and dated the page.

"Matsuri?"

The girl sighed before looking up to Ami, who looked quite hesitant about approaching her. Hesitancy wasn't a good look for her. "Yeah?"

"I," she started as she wrapped a strand of hair around her finger. "I'm sorry I got caught up in that yesterday. I don't know what came over me. Forgive me!" she said frantically was a bow.

Matsuri tilted her head to the side, looking at her friend. _Ami,_ she thought. She turned her gaze away from her friend, looking down at the paper on her desk, twisting the pen between her fingers. Ito Ami never apologized. Whenever she and Matsuri would fight, which to be honest wasn't very often, Ami would just walk up to her and start conversation. She never apologized. "You're forgiven," Matsuri said with a wave of her hand and a soft smile on her lips. Ami laughed, tossing her arms around her neck. "Just don't throw me to the wolves anymore," Matsuri teased as she patted her friends head.

"I'm sorry, Matsuri," Ami said. "I just, it happened so fast and then you were shouting and leaving. Where did you go?"

Matsuri tensed and bit her lip. She'd been upset with Ami so she couldn't tell her about the fact that she'd gone and shouted at Kyoya. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, to let her best friend know what happened, the person in question walked into the classroom, Souh Tamaki tailing behind him. Kyoya's grey eyes were trained to the notebook in his hand as he transcribed what Tamaki was saying to him. Tamaki's violet eyes glanced in her direction briefly and he offered her a soft smile, one that she tried to return. Kyoya on the other hand didn't even so much as glance in her direction. He simply took his seat and continued to write down the ideas that Tamaki was spewing.

Ami looked from Kyoya to Matsuri and then back again. "You didn't…"

"I did."

"You're fighting?"

Matsuri nodded.

"What is that even like?" Ami whispered in wonder.

Matsuri shot her friend a pointed look. Silencing her instantly. Ami frowned and then looked at the back of Kyoya's head. Her brown eyes narrowed and she looked as if she wanted to say something to him, to call him out for ignoring her best friend. However, for once, Ami remained silent. Instead, she placed her hand on Matsuri's head and smiled down at her.

"He'll come around," Ami told her as she started off towards her seat.

Kyoya glanced over his shoulder at her, an action so quick and subtle that she had almost missed it. In that millisecond, their gazes met. In that quick moment, she could see that his eyes were red. He opened his mouth, looking as if he wanted to tell her something, but then shut it and turned away from her, as if he suddenly remembered that they were fighting. Matsuri frown and looked down at her paper, although she longed to have him come stand over her, his long fingers gently and subtly brushing against hers. However, she was stubborn, and because of that, she bit her lip and continued to look at her paper.

* * *

"You're still not talking?"

Matsuri looked away from the contents of her locker, wilted lavender rose included, and into the brown eyes of Ito Ami. The girl closed her locker and sighed, shaking her head. No. They still weren't talking. They'd gone the entire day, sitting yards away from one another, passing by one another in the halls, and still hadn't said a single word to one another. It was silly really. She knew that she was sure that he knew that as well. However, it was just something about the situation that wouldn't let her speak to him first. Her and her damn pride.

"It would appear to be that way," the raven haired girl yawned. The effects of her restless night had only become more evident over the course of the day. Despite the fact that she'd snuck away to take a nap during lunch, she still felt tired.

Ami reached over and closed her friend's locker door, a bit too aggressive for Matsuri's liking, and then grabbed Matsuri's arm, tugging her down the hallway. The dark haired girl had not been expecting that and stumbled over her feet as she was pulled away from her spot.

"Ami!" The dark haired girl called as she continued to stumble in her friend's wake. When Ami didn't answer, Matsuri sighed deeply. This was typical of Ami, to just grab her and drag her places. So Matsuri allowed it, trailing behind her friend as she walked.

Until...

"No. Ami, no. No!" Matsuri said as she dug her heels into the ground, causing Ami to slow down slightly. "Ami, please! No!" She struggled against Ami's grip, trying to pry her fingers from her hand as she settled her weight into her heels, trying to slow Ami more.

The smaller girl gripped Matsuri with both hands, now literally pulling her down the hallway towards Music Room #3. While Matsuri grounding her weight slowed her a bit, Ami never stopped walking, and dragging her friend.

Ami pushed the door open with her shoulder. The rose petals falling on the two struggling girls, Matsuri holding on to the doorframe and Ami pulling at the fabric of her dress. Eventually, Ami won when Matsuri's grip slipped and sent them both tumbling into the music room, Ami falling on her back and Matsuri rolling in after her.

"Princesses?" Tamaki's voice questioned as he peered down at the two girls.

"Ootori-san," Ami requested.

"Ito-san?" His tenor voice replied as he approached them. His eyes not on her, but Matsuri, who was now pinned under Ami's weight to keep her from leaving.

"You have a guest," Ami replied as she finally released Matsuri.

Matsuri huffed loudly, rolling her eyes. The girl stood from the floor, brushed her yellow dress off, removing the dust and dirt. Finally, she managed to bring her gaze to Kyoya, who was looking down at his notebook.

"Oh?" He said, finally responding to Ami's declaration. "Well," he lifted his eyes from the notebook in his hand and glanced at them both, "which one of you do I have the pleasure of hosting?" Ami didn't speak, and nor did Matsuri. They all knew who Ami wanted him to host. Kyoya turned away from the two girls and started back towards the table where his laptop was, and probably where he'd been sitting before they barged in causing all kinds of chaos. "When you've decided I'll be here," he said coolly, gesturing towards the table with the empty seat.

Ami and Matsuri glared at one another. And just as Matsuri made a move to leave the club room, Ami grabbed her and pushed her in the direction of Kyoya. As Matsuri, stumbled towards him, she was oddly grateful to have Ami. With her head down, she approached Kyoya.

"Matsuri-san" he greeted without looking up from his computer. To her well trained ear, she heard how tense his voice was when he spoke.

The tennis player took a seat in front of him as he pushed a cup of rose flavored tea towards her. It was funny how even though they were not talking, they were still in sync. She wrapped her slender hands around the cup and brought it to her lips. The silence between them was heavy, only slightly dented by Kyoya's fingers moving expertly across the keys on his laptop. He made no effort to speak to her, and so she made no effort to speak to him. Every time she would chance a glance at him, he was looking down at him screen, as if she weren't there.

The club doors opened, and Matsuri's gaze traveled away from Kyoya and to the entrance. To her surprise, Soma Miyo was standing there. She had a very brief conversation with Tamaki, one that ended with him gesturing towards Kyoya, who still hadn't looked up from his screen. Matsuri watched as Miyo approached the table, and it was then that Kyoya look s away from his computer.

"Soma-san," he greeted standing from his chair. What was the first year President of the Film Club, a club that Kyoya banned from Music Room #3, doing here?

"Ootori-senpai. I've been considering your requirements in allowing the Film Club to film here," Miyo started. When she walked into the room, she seemed to have so much resolve. However, now that she was standing in front of Ootori Kyoya she looked small and nervous. Her voice shook a bit a she spoke, but she tried to remain brave. "We are prepared to pay 5407 yen for each day we are filming in the club."

"That's 5407 less than I'd asked for," he replied coolly.

Miyo looked over at Matsuri, who took that time to stir her tea. "We can pay that for the day to day filming. We can also give you access to the footage to use how you see fit."

This seemed to spike Kyoya's interest as he looked away from his notebook with an arched eyebrow. "The footage could be useful for profit. Only the third year students are getting a copy of the video, correct?"

Miyo nodded. "Yes, it's the 3A class that's getting them."

"Not 3B, 3C, or 3D?"

"Well, I'll correct myself. The ones that have agreed to let us film them will receive a copy. So it's mostly 3A with a few from the other classes."

"I see," Kyoya stroked his chin. "Will we have to purchase the rights to the video?"

"The rights?" Miyo said.

"When we get the video, you won't be able to use the video anymore. It will be property of the Host Club. We can use it as we see fit," Kyoya informed.

"For how much?"

"Five hundred thousand yen," Kyoya said with no hesitation.

"Five hundred thousand yen?" Miyo echoed, coughing. It was clear that she was caught off guard by the offer.

"Is that acceptable?"

"More than."

"I have one more condition," Kyoya said. "Give us a 24-hour notice before you come, no more than an hour," Miyo frowned at this and Kyoya sighed, "No more than an hour and a half. We will discuss events outside of daily Club activities as they occur."

"Can I still film the participants with the Host's?" the girl asked.

"Yes," Kyoya answered, although it was a bit reluctant.

Miyo bowed deeply with a bright smile on her lips. "Thank you, Ootori-senpai!" With that she began to make her way out of the room, a pep in her step that had been missing before.

Kyoya settled back into his chair and Matsuri didn't even bother to hide her surprised expression. Had he just…. He'd just allowed the Film Club to film Host Club activities. However, it was a business deal if she'd ever seen one. And poor Soma Miyo. Kyoya had frightened her. But that was probably his intention. Had the Film Club come to the decision to pay the Host Club to let them film there? Well obviously they had…

"Yen for your thoughts?" he asked.

His words took her back to their first meeting, at this exact table. The very first time Matsuri had given any thought to Ootori Kyoya, other than the fact that he was an Ootori and first in class. The first time that their paths truly crossed. _Yen for your thoughts._

"You called me last night," she blurted out.

Kyoya's fingers faltered as she spoke, adding an extra letter at the end of the word. Slowly, he brought his gaze to her. She then was fully about to see how tired he looked. There were light circles under his grey eyes and his eyes themselves were red-rimmed. "I did," he said, keeping his tone cool.

They were quiet again. Matsuri fiddled with a loose sting on her dress, wrapping it around her finger. Kyoya continued to watch her, watching her fingertip turn red as she tightened the string on her finger. Just as he was going to bring his attention back to the computer, she pushed away from the table and stood.

"Matsuri-chan?" he questioned.

"I," she started. "I, I." She ran her fingers through her hair jerkily, looking everywhere but at Kyoya. "I, just," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "I have to go."

She turned over her shoulder and started out of the room. She kept her head down, hoping that Ami wouldn't see her. Her hopes were in vain, because Ami did spot her. Matsuri could see the irritation in her friend's eyes but didn't care. She just wanted out of the room; the air was suffocating. When she finally got out of the room, she didn't feel better in the least. The air around her was still heavy.

"Matsuri-chan."

The words cut through the heavy air like a knife. However, she didn't stop walking nor did she even acknowledge it. She just kept walking, head down. As she heard the door to Music Room #3 shut, she walked a little faster.

"Matsuri."

Her name wasn't shouted. Just spoke with such irritation and intensity that she had to stop. However, she kept her eyes trained to the white tile beneath her feet. Her ears twitched a little as unrushed footsteps approached her. They came to a stop just behind her.

And suddenly, she was reminded of the event with her mother and father. On the night that she left, they had stood just like this. Her father stood behind her mother, close enough to reach out to her, but he never did. Now, she found herself in a similar position. Kyoya standing behind her and calling her name while she stood with her head down. Funny how history repeats itself.

Matsuri clenched her hands into the fabric of her dress and took a deep breath before starting away from him knowing that he wasn't going to reach out to her. He was Ootori Kyoya. He didn't need anyone.

His cool grasp on her wrist stopped her dead in her tracks before he pulled her back to him, twisting her to face him as he did. She stumbled into his chest, nose pressed into the blue fabric of his blazer. He'd pulled her back? He hadn't just let her leave?

"You're hopeless at apologies," he informed, his voice rumbling in his chest.

Matsuri was quiet as she breathed in the scent on his blazer, his scent. Her hands fisted in the front of his blazer, where they had landed when he'd turned her to face him. "I didn't answer the phone; I saw you calling, but…"

Kyoya was quiet, releasing his tight grasp on her wrist. "I wasn't going to call, but my meddlesome sister told me to. She gave me some good advice, but don't let her know that I said that." _Never let someone you love go to bed angry. We fight for the ones we love, Kyoya._ "I'm not sure what I would have said if you had answered. 'I'm sorry you stuck your nose were it didn't belong'?" He brought his hand under her chin and took a half a step away from her, making her look at him. "I'm sure that that wouldn't have helped anything."

Matsuri chuckled, exhaling softly. "I shouldn't have come barging in shouting."

"That was a poor decision on your behalf," Kyoya agreed. In response, she blushed. He dropped his hand from under her chin and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "I was out of line as well."

Matsuri blinked. Had he apologized? Or the Ootori Kyoya equivalent to an apology, which was apparently him admitting a fault in his ever correct actions. She opened her mouth to respond asking him, but decided against it. If it were an apology, she was sure that he wouldn't quite admit to it. He'd be his usual evasive self and not quite answer the question but not quite ignore it.

"You look tired," Kyoya commented. She wondered if that's what he wanted to say to her when he saw her in class earlier.

Matsuri rolled her eyes. "You don't look much better," she replied, her eyes finding his red rimmed eyes.

Kyoya shifted his position, the light now glinting off his glasses lenses and blocking her view of his eyes. However, he was standing closer to her, his chest against hers and his mouth near her ear. "Dinner Saturday?" he asked lowly, his lips brushing against her ear.

"Of course."

"Pick you up at 7," he responded. He trailed his lips along her jaw as he stepped away from her, sending a shiver down her spine and almost instinctively, she reached up and grabbed the fabric of his blazer.

And just like that all was forgiven, and with no actual apology. But that was just like them, wasn't it? Ootori Kyoya wasn't the type to apologize, too much pride; nor was Matsuri, who just didn't like to admit she was wrong. Leave it to them, Kinjo Matsuri and Ootori Kyoya, to be so prideful to find a way to apologize to one another without actually doing so. But that was just them. Too proud to admit that they were in the wrong, but too attached, too in love, to let the other walk out of their lives.

* * *

 **A/N:** So there's that. I doubt that Kyoya is the type to apologize about anything, ever. He's too proud. So is Matsuri. So the unspoken apology seemed to be the best way to go about it. But clearly, there was an apology. Don't worry, there's more drama coming between the two of them. I can assure you of that. me know what you think. Leave a review!

 **~ Nikki**


	24. Chapter 24

On the day of the match between Ouran Academy and the public school, Kinjo Matsuri had woken up with a pounding headache. Not the kind that snuck up on her during the first few minutes of her morning routine, it was one that hit her like a train the moment Nara-san opened the curtains in her room. Of course, Matsuri immediately knew what the headache was a result of. She'd been working the team, and herself, very hard over the past week. Running drills and improving any and everything before the scouts for the Ouran Univeristy Tennis Team came to the match. Between that, trying to stay ahead with schoolwork, constantly having the film club follow her around, and maintaining a relationship with Ootori Kyoya, Matsuri had spread herself far too thin, and as a result she was left with this monstrosity of a headache. One that didn't seem to care that it had come at the worst time imaginable, nor did it have any plans on easing up.

"Matsuri?"

"Shhh," the raven hair girl replied, squeezing her eyes shut as the sound of her name rang in her ears.

It wasn't that Ito Ami was speaking loudly, it was that she was adding to the noise around her. The constant chatter and laughter in the lunchroom was painful enough; every sound was magnified ten-fold. Matsuri shifted, pressing the heels of her hands to her eyes, hoping to relieve some pressure.

"Matsuri…"

"Shhh," she commanded again.

"Ito-san."

Matsuri winced as his voice came to her ears. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy hearing his tenor voice, but his, like Ami's, only added to the noise she was already trying to filter out. She could feel his eyes on her, but she hadn't the energy or desire to move from her position and look at him.

"Ootori-kun," Ami said quietly.

"Is she-?"

"Shhh," Matsuri answered for her friend. Something cool and wet made contact with her forehead. Startled by the feeling, she moved back away from the unfamiliar sensation suddenly and inhaled sharply, both actions she regretted instantly. A wave of dizziness hit her due to her sudden movement and the inhalation of the scents in the lunchroom. The wet object came back, pressing to her forehead, and she leaned into it this time. Slowly, she raised her hand up to the object, a cloth. Her fingers brushed against his, as she held the cloth to her forehead.

"You're welcome," Kyoya's voice said. His fingers brushed against her cheek as he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. His hand trailed down her neck, stopping briefly. "You're a bit warm."

"I told her that earlier," Ami voiced quietly.

"Do you still intend to play this afternoon?" Kyoya asked.

Matsuri made a motion to nod, however, she thought better of it. "Yes," she replied. Her own voice hurting her head.

Matsuri needn't open her eyes to know what Kyoya's expression was. She was sure that he was scowling at her with darkened grey eyes. There would be a crease on his forehead. Instead, she brought the cloth lower to cover her eyes.

"Kyoya!" Matsuri visibly flinched at the loud sound of Tamaki's voice. She could hear it above all the others in the room. "Is she- "Tamaki's speech was cut short and replaced with a thudding sound, probably Kyoya hitting his self-proclaimed best friend with his notepad. "I'm sorry," he replied, quieter but not quite quietly enough. Matsuri lowered her head to the table, the cloth squishing under the weight of her forehead. "I have the medicine you asked for, Ami-hime," the blond continued finally reaching a softness of voice that wasn't like nails on a chalkboard to Matsuri.

"Medicine?" Ami sounded confused.

With her eyes closed and forehead on the table, she couldn't see what was happening. However, if she had to guess, Ami was reaching for the medicine. She was sure of that because the pills were shaking around in the bottle that they had come in and Ami's yellow dress was rustling. The sound of the pills in the bottle came closer, a sign to her that Ami had them in her possession.

"Open your hand," Ami commanded to her friend. Matsuri did as told, resting the back of her hand against the table. Ami placed two small pills in her hand, carefully closing her fingers around them when she was done. She then slid a cup of water towards her across the table.

Matsuri pushed herself up slowly, so to not cause another dizzy spell. She carefully opened her eyes, squinting against the light. Finally, she managed to let her eyes focus on something, someone to be exact: Ootori Kyoya. She was right. His expression was just as she had imagined that it would be. Scowl and all.

"How do you expect to play if you cannot even keep your eyes open?" he asked. Matsuri shot him the most venomous glare that she could muster, however, she was sure that it didn't look as intimidating as she wanted to. However, Kyoya seemed to get the gist of her pathetic attempt to intimidate him, because he pushed his glasses up his nose turning his gaze away from her. "Come, Tamaki."

With that the said, the two boys left. Well, Kyoya left and dragged Tamaki with him. Ami watched the two boys leave and then turned her attention to the bottle in her hands, while Matsuri sipped on the cup of water. Ami turned the bottle in her hand, the pills rolling inside.

"I like him."

"I beg your pardon?" Matsuri asked quietly as she placed the cloth back on her forehead and closed her eyes.

"Ootori-kun, I like him." Matsuri was sure that she looked as if she required more information. "The medicine. I went to get some from the nurse earlier but she wasn't there. As I was leaving, I ran into Ootori-kun and I mentioned it to him. He got that for you, Matsuri. He's taking care of you. So, I like him."

Matsuri shifted her cloth and looked at Ami through half-open eyes. Ami was the type of person to have one best friend. Matsuri knew that because she was Ami's one best friend. As Ami's best friend, she was tasked with dealing with every major event in Ami's life and even those that weren't all that major. The feeling was reciprocated of course. Matsuri told her everything about her life as well. Being Ami's only best friend, Ami was very protective of the relationship that they had. Ami tended to not like people that looked as if they were going to come between them. However, here she was admitting that she liked Kyoya, someone who was clearly coming between them even if it were not on purpose. A smile come to her lips. "I'm sure he'll appreciate it."

* * *

"Senpai?"

Matsuri dipped her cupped hands under the stream of cold water and brought her hands up to her face, splashing the water on to it. While the medicine that Tamaki had brought to her helped ease the pounding in her head, it had not chased the pain away. Instead, it had become a sort of dull pounding that was off beat with her heart's rhythm. However, it had allowed her to make it through the rest of her day. She then turned the water off and grabbed her towel, before turning her attention to the younger girl. "Yes?"

Somewhere in the locker room, a door slammed and Matsuri flinched.

"Are you alright?" Muso Tomoka asked.

While the medicine helped with the pain, it didn't quite ease the symptoms that came with her headache. Sounds still hurt her head, causing it to pound even more out of rhythm with her heart, and sudden movements still made her dizzy. Yet, she was still playing in this match.

Priorities.

"I'm okay."

"Ito-san told me to tell you that you shouldn't play, because you're sick," Tomoka said awkwardly.

"Yeah, I'm sure she did." Matsuri told her. She could see that Tomoka was highly uncomfortable telling her Senpai what her friend had said. She placed her hand on top of the younger girl's head ruffling her hair as she did. "It's okay." As she walked by Tomoka, she grabbed her tennis racket from the bench and placed the head of it on her shoulder. "Come on."

Tomoka followed Matsuri without hesitation. The two girls exited the locker room dressed in their matching blue polo shirts and white skirts. Matsuri inhaled sharply as they stepped out of the dimly lit locker room and into the sunny afternoon. Tomoka looked over at Matsuri as her steps faltered a bit and she flinched against the light. She looked as if she wanted to say something, but then decided against it. If there was one thing that she knew about her Senpai is was that she was going to do whatever she wanted to do and her words, really the words of anyone, wouldn't matter. Instead, she turned her attention straight ahead and slowed her pace to allow Matsuri to catch up with her.

As Matsuri approached the fence around the courts, she spotted the recruiters. They were all sitting together in the first row dressed in polo shirts with the Ouran University emblem on the left side of the shirt. There were three of them, all wearing sunglasses as they looked over the courts watching the players warm up and their interactions with their teammates. On occasion, one would turn to another speaking in a hushed voice and the person spoken to would either nod or shake their heads, but no verbal response was given. And while she couldn't see their eyes, she felt as if they were watching her. So she walked a little taller, trying to push the feeling of her headache away. Under their gaze, she greeted her teammates and gathered them around her, making sure that they were familiar with the lineup and to address any questions that they might have. The singles would be playing first per request of the visiting team.

That meant her match was now second.

The raven haired girl settled down on the bench, her equipment between her knees and Tomoka at her side. The players in the first match, Kan of the home team and Ui for the visiting team, had started to warm up. The sound of the ball hitting the racquet rang in her ears, bouncing off her eardrums. She ducked her head, squeezing her eyes shut as the combination of sound and light made her head pound. The younger girl had fetched a cold bottle of water from the cooler beside the bench and handed it to her. Matsuri gave the girl a gentle smile as she uncapped the bottle and brought it to her lips. As she did, she spotted a very familiar group of people sitting in the stands: The Host Club. Tamaki stood, waving to her, while Haruhi pulled on his arm begging him to remain seated. Matsuri gave him a small wave, which apparently pleased him because he sat down and stopped waving. The two identical auburn haired boys were talking between themselves. The Shadow King sat behind them, his eyes focused on the notepad in his hands. However, as if he knew that she was watching him, he looked up, his grey eyes meeting hers from across the courts. The look in his eyes was one of disapproval, she needn't be close to him to see that. In response, she looked away from him.

Sometime during the first match, her headache intensified still pulsing out of sync with her heart. She rested her forehead on the handle of her racquet, closing her eyes as she tried to focus on anything but the pain between her temples. However, she was mostly unsuccessful, and ended up counting the amount of times that her head pulsed. Tomoka, bless her, rested a cool bottle of water on the back of her neck, hoping that the action would be of comfort to her Senpai. Matsuri let out a soft exhale as the bottle made contact with her skin, the cool feeling coursing over her. She was thankful for Tomoka's efforts.

"Winner, Ken of Ouran."

She'd missed an entire match?

"Next, Kinjo v. Toru."

Matsuri looked up suddenly at the sound of her name, causing her head to spin and she immediately had to look back down to gather herself.

"Senpai?"

The older girl waved away Tomoka's unspoken concerns and stood, slowly, twisting her racquet in her hand. As she approached the net, she found her gaze drifting to the Shadow King, who looked more unamused and disapproving than he did before. She and Toru approached the net, bowing to one another before turning to the announcer. In his hand he held a single coin, he flicked it into the air.

"Heads," Toru, her short haired opponent, called before Matsuri could even process that the coin had left the man's hand.

The coin landed heads up.

"I'll serve first," the visiting teams player announced. With that she turned away from the net and started back to the baseline.

"Five minutes to warm up, players."

As she made her way back to her own baseline, Matsuri's gaze fell on the recruiters. Even though her head pounded with every step she took, she held her head even, twisting her racquet to warm up her wrist. All the work she'd put in was not going to waste.

Toru's first warm up serve fell a little short, catching the net as it made its way over to her side of the court. Her second made it across the net, but was a bit too much, landing just behind the baseline. Her next serve was perfect, Matsuri ran up to it and swung at it, swung and missed. She looked over her shoulder to see the ball rolling off the court. She was sure that she'd hit the ball, but it was clear that she hadn't. The next serve was good, landing in the right service box and this time she did hit it, but right into the net. Matsuri exhaled, shaking her arms as the visiting player served again. The ball bounced in the left service box and she was able to keep the ball in play.

The warmup period showed her one thing. Her reaction time was too slow. She wasn't moving until after the ball had been hit and she was falling back on to her heels instead of staying on her toes. She was slow and unbalanced. To add on to that, she was tired just after the warm up. Her heart was pounding which didn't help her headache at all, if anything it got worse. After the warm up period, she knelt down and rested her forehead against her knee, tying her shoe as a cover.

Unlike her serves in the warmup match, Toru's first serve of the match was fast and hand, landing perfect in the service box. Matsuri moved too slowly, not registering that the girl had served, and the ball bounced out of bounds. _Fifteen-love._ Her next serve was just as fast, but Matsuri expected it, meeting it in the box and sending it back. She rocked back on her heels, losing her balance as the ball was returned back to her. The Ouran player just barley managed to return it. Too slow. Every running step she took shook through her body, irritating her headache. _Thirty-love._ Matsuri had just missed a return in the far back corner.

Watching the girl play, Matsuri noticed that she played close to the net. She knew what she had to do in order to score on her since she was using that strategy. The question wasn't one of her knowledge, it was one of her ability to execute it in her current condition. Was she fast enough to do it? On her next return, she played it safe setting herself up for the next shot. When it came back across the net, she lobbed it over, just barely getting under it.

"Thirty-fifteen," Matsuri called as she lifted a ball into her hand using her racquet.

Her first serve was short, just as Toru's had been in the warmup period. It rolled over the net and on to the other side. Her second serve was better, landing in the left service box. She'd managed put enough spin on it to earn another point.

"Thirty all."

Despite her efforts, she lost the first game. As well as the second. However, she made a comeback during the third game, winning 40-fifteen. By the start of the fourth game, she was struggling to keep up with Toru. Her headache had increased tenfold. She was dizzy from the constant back and forth motion of the game. Her serves were weak and her returns were safe. She chanced a look at the recruiters and saw that they were all scribbling in their notepads, and when they looked up, they seemed unsatisfied, displeased. She wasn't making a good impression, at all.

Toru's serve came while she was caught in her own thoughts, bouncing in the service box. Matsuri ripped herself from her thoughts, charging at the ball, stumbling forward on to the ground to get it back to the visiting player. She returned it to Toru, who hadn't expected that watched the ball bounce once near the baseline and then off of the court. Matsuri struggled to get up from the ground, her knees a little raw from the fall. She rubbed her hands together getting the pieces of gravel from her skin.

"Fifteen all."

Near the end of the fourth game, the corners of her vision starter to blur making it more than difficult to see the small ball soaring over the net. However, she'd managed to scrape out a win. She'd won two and so had Toru.

They took a short break between the end of the fourth game and the start of the fifth. Tomoka met her with a water bottle and a cool rag. Matsuri visibly shook as she pressed the rag to her head. She exhaled shakily into the rag, grateful for the cool feeling against her unusually warm skin. When had she gotten so warm?

She made her way back to the court, the blurriness of her vision now accompanied by floating black dots. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision, and it helped a little but not enough. Her serve was decent. Toru's return was too her far left, sending her running, the dark spots multiplying as she ran, her head pounding with every step. The sound of her racquet hitting the ball as she returned it rang loudly in her ears. She turned her back to the net briefly as she tried to make the ringing stop, but she turned back to face the net to continue playing.

This wasn't going to get the best of her. Even if she could barely make out the blur of color that was the ball. She'd worked too hard for this. She'd pushed herself too hard for this. On her next return the corners of her vision went black. She rocked back on to her heels shaking her head, trying to clear her vision. Even if she did feel very warm. She was going to finish. The recruiters were watching. She slid into the ball returning it to Toru, her ears ringing and her heart pounding. She looked up towards the stands to see that the Shadow King was no longer there. On the return, everything went black of a split second. She chased the ball down when Toru set the ball back to her. Matsuri found herself unable to move, watching the ball coming over the net.

Too hard.

Too much time.

The racquet slipped from her grasp as everything around her went dark and the yellow ball bounced on the ground next to her.

Too hard.

She'd pushed herself too hard.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey! You guys, the past two weeks have been CRAZY! I had finals and then my computer deleted the entire chapter from existence, don't even get me started on how angry I was about that. Anyway, so I had to write it all over again. But here it is finally. I hope everyone enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun writing it. There's not a lot of dialogue, which is really different for me. But I think that you see a different side of Matsuri in this chapter. Anyway, let me know what you think!

 **~ Nikki**


	25. Chapter 25

It was dark, save for the harsh glowing of a light that seemed far away, but close all at the same time. There were faint sounds and unfamiliar sensations. The sounds of quiet conversations floated to her ears, which were only halfway doing their job only letting her hear bits and pieces of the conversations. The was something so familiar about the voices, but she couldn't place it the darkness. There was something itchy on her skin, and she made a motion to scratch, but her hand didn't move. She tried again, only succeeding in making her index finger twitch against the itchy item, a blanket.

"Matsuri?" It was one of the familiar voice again. In response to her name, she tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids were still heavy. Again, she tried and she succeeded in making her eyelids twitch. "Matsuri," the voice said again, this time it was accompanied by a light touch on her cheek.

She tried to speak, and it was then that she noticed the dryness of her tongue and lips. "Okaasan," she croaked, finally managing to open her eyes. The light was much further away than she'd thought it was, but still close enough to be blinding. Her mother seemed to pick up on her discomfort, and reached over to dim it.

"Gave us quite a fright," the woman said squeezing her daughters hand.

"What-" But just as she started to speak, it slowly started to come back to her. The ache in her head still remained, helping her to remember. The racket slipping from her fingers as she felt her knees hit the ground and everything around her went dark. She'd passed out in the middle of a tennis match. "The match," she rasped, trying to sit up.

A larger hand pressed to her chest slowly pushing her down and holding her there. "Slow down."

That was her father's voice.

"Otosan."

"You push yourself too hard, Matsuri," he told her, a scolding tone edging into his tone of concern. "If you were ill, you should not have gone to play. The recruiters would have understood."

She cleared her throat, trying to speak to him, to apologize for making him worry and being foolish, but her tongue was heavy and dry. The bed she was lying in slowly started to rise, taking her from a lying position to an upright one. She could now see her complete surroundings. A hospital room. A nice one, to be quite honest. The bed she was in was positioned so that it was looking out of a large window overlooking the skyline of the city.

"Drink this," her father said, holding a glass of water out to her.

"How did I...?"

"It would seem that your friend, Ootori-san, called an ambulance halfway through your match. He claimed that you weren't looking well, a bit red in the face," her mother replied. "He was very concerned, the ambulance said he rode with you and called your father while you were en route."

Matsuri nearly choked on the water that she'd sipped. However, she shouldn't have really been all that surprised. After all, she was in a hospital and the Ootori Group played a huge part in the medical field.

"He's a nice boy," her mother commented. "Well mannered."

"You met him?" Matsuri asked, her voice still hoarse.

"Only briefly."'

Matsuri chewed on the straw in the glass, thinking over her next question. "What did the doctors say?"

"You're dehydrated and sleep deprived," her father answered, the scolding in his tone was much more obvious. "You are to stay here for the weekend to rest."

Matsuri sighed deeply. Her first thought was to argue it. However, she realized that meant fighting her parents, all the doctors in the hospital, and eventually Kyoya himself, and she didn't have the energy for that. So instead of fighting, she placed her water glass on the table and settled into the bed. "You don't have to stay. I will be fine."

"Are you sure?" Her parents asked at the same time. It was odd for them to be so in sync. After all, they hadn't spent more than a half a day a year in each other's presence since they divorced.

"Yes, I'm sure. I can't go anywhere. So I think I'll start resting." When her parents didn't move, she sighed. "Don't watch me resting, it's weird. You're both busy people. Go be busy. If you need me, I'll be right here. If I need you, I'll call you."

"Well, if you are sure," her mother said as she gave her daughter's arm a soft squeeze. "I will be back tomorrow, how does that sound?"

"It sounds great," Matsuri replied. "Otosan?"

"I'll come through tomorrow as well," he said, nodding his head as he adjusted the sleeves on his shirt. Matsuri reached over and buttoned the buttons on his sleeves, the ones that he could never do himself. "What would I do without you?" he asked as he tousled her dark hair.

"Have unbuttoned shirt sleeves," Matsuri said as she watched her parents leaving the room. "Don't worry," she said again.

* * *

After her parents left, she'd taken to searching her immediate surroundings for a remote to the television that was on the wall. Her twisting motion revealed to her that her headache, while hardly noticeable, was still there. She scrunched her nose and closed her eyes, waiting for the throbbing to stop. After a few moments it subsided and she opened her eyes. The sides of her vision were slightly blurred. Matsuri focused her gaze on a painting of a cherry blossom tree on the wall in front of her until the blurring faded.

Finally, she found the remote, after allowing her headache to fade and turning more slowly. The girl clicked on the television that was hanging on an arm in front of her bed and flicked through the channels, trying to find something to watch. She settled on a reality show or something. She wasn't really watching it, she just wanted it for background noise.

She watched as the sun set over the city, turning the sky orange and pink. This was her favorite time of day, watching the day give way to the night. The sound of her door opening, caused her to whip her head around, again agitating her headache. Through her blurred vision, she could make out a tall, slim form walking into the room. At first, she thought it was a doctor, but as her vision focused she realized that it was not a doctor.

"Is the room to your liking?"

That was his voice. His smooth tenor voice. One that she had committed to memory. Kyoya.

"I thought you left," she said not bothering to respond to the question.

"You driving yourself into the ground wasn't something I had a desire to watch. Also, I had to call the ambulance." Kyoya settled into the chair next to her bed, dark hair perfectly in place and still in his school uniform. There he was looking perfect, per usual, and she... Well she wasn't sure how she looked, but it certainly wasn't perfect.

"Well, thank you for that," she said.

Kyoya was quiet for a moment. "You cost the club a fair amount today."

"Because you weren't holding club functions?" She asked.

"Yes. We also had to buy the video of the match off the Film Club. 11,000 yen," he told him as her watched her from the corner of his eye. "We doubted that you wanted the footage on the third year video."

Matsuri blushed. 11,000 yen? She was unsure of what to say to him about that, but she felt that she had to say something. "I, well, I-"

"What made you think that was a good idea?" He asked tensely, his sharp tone cutting her off.

Matsuri looked over at him. The light in the room glinted off his glasses, but she knew that his eyes were dark. "The recruiters," she replied turning her gaze to her hands that were lightly placed on the blanket. He shifted in the seat, the light moving off his lenses and revealing his grey eyes. His gaze was far from the cool one it usually was. It was heated, burning into her, but not like the night of the summer ball. That was a different kind of heat, he wanted to kiss her, it was a desire. This was an angry gaze. She felt her skin grow warm under his gaze. "Kyoya..."

"I told you not to play." The look in his eyes and the tone of his voice didn't match. His tone remained even and cool, but his eyes were hot and angry. "I told you not to and you went out and played. You were sick."

Matsuri went to defend herself, but she couldn't. It was something about his tone, the calmness if it was unsettling. It was like he was yelling at her, scolding her, but he wouldn't shout. Instead his tone was low and even. She would have much rather him yell at her. It would have been easier to handle.

"You were reckless for no reason," he continued.

"I-" she started trying to find the right words. "I needed to play. The team.."

"Could support themselves. You are not the only person one the team, Matsuri. The can do things without you. The young one tried to forfeit her match because she wanted to come make sure you were okay. She's said she felt like it was her fault. I had Tamaki tell her that it wasn't anything to do with her."

"The young one? Tomoka?"

"The one that is always with you?" Matsuri nodded. "Then yes."

Matsuri sighed. She hadn't thought about that.

"Well did she play?" Matsuri questioned.

"I wouldn't know. I was in the ambulance with you," Kyoya told her bluntly. "I asked Tamaki to talk to her before I left," he added.

Matsuri sighed, her eyes finding the cherry blossom picture again. She hadn't meant to cause such a fuss. She'd genuinely thought that she could finish the game and still be okay. "I didn't mean to cause all this trouble."

Kyoya's tone didn't lose its sharp edge as he spoke. "You didn't think, Matsuri-chan."

"I thought if the recruiters didn't see me play then I would lose any chance of getting to play for the university."

"You didn't think about the right things," Kyoya told her.

As much as she wanted to go to the defensive, she realized that she couldn't. She couldn't defend herself against him because she knew that he was right. She knew that she shouldn't have played but she did anyway, and now look were it landed her.

"I know," she admitted. "I just," Matsuri shrugged as she wrapped the corner of the blanket around her hand. "I didn't want people to worry and I guess I failed at that."

"Monumentally," Kyoya agreed as he reached over and unraveled her hand from the blanket. "Tamaki said that he would like to speak to you," Kyoya added.

"He's here?"

"No, no. I wouldn't let him in." Kyoya reached into the pocket of his blazer and pulled out his cell. After scrolling through his contacts, he pressed the call button and brought it to his ear. "Tamaki. Yes, hold on."

Matsuri took the phone from him as he handed it to her, her fingertips brushing against the palm of his hand as she did. "Tamaki?"

"Matsuri-hime!" he exclaimed. Matsuri flinched at the volume of his voice but found a soft smile on her lips. "How are you? Are you feeling better?"

"Matsuri-senpai, you-."

"-took a nasty fall."

Two matching voices greeted her, after a shuffling sound. The twins.

"Senpai, how are you?"

That was the voice of the only female host, Haruhi.

"Matsuri! I'll kill you the next time I see you! You reckless idiot!"

And to top it all off the voice of her best friend, Ito Ami, rang out over the shuffling as the boys fought over the phone.

They were all there, crowded around Tamaki's cell phone. They were all there waiting to hear from her, waiting to see if she was okay.

Upon that realization, Matsuri felt her eyes start to water. "All of you," she sniffled, "I am fine. I didn't mean to worry you all. I'll be back soon. I promise."

The sounds of their voices got softer and more muffled. Kyoya had reached over and taken the phone from her ear. It was then that she realized that she had started to cry. "She's fine. She's just tired. Let her rest." He paused and released a deep sigh. "Yes." He glanced over at Matsuri as she reached up to wipe her face. "Goodnight."

Kyoya hung up the phone, placing it on the table beside him. He reached over and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"I didn't mean to worry everyone," she said again.

He sighed. "I know. They know as well." He had never seen her cry. However, he knew that he did not like it. Her face wasn't made for tears. Her eyes shouldn't glimmer with tears, just laughter. He brushed his thumb across her cheek.

"I'm sorry," she muttered as she brushed away more tears.

"Why are you apologizing?" Kyoya frowned deeply as the realization hit him. "Are you apologizing for crying?" When she didn't respond, he knew that he was right. "Matsuri. Don't do that. You don't have to apologize for crying. They were worried. It took everything in my power to keep Ito-san and Tamaki from getting in the ambulance with you." Matsuri huffed out a chuckle. "Karou and Hikaru cornered the film club, so they could not leave with the film. The two of them have taken a liking to you."

"I know," she said, the corners of her lips turning upward. "I like them as well." Kyoya was quiet, letting her gather herself. Once again, he brought his hand up to her hair, his fingers slipping through her dark locks. "Thank you, Kyoya."

He turned her face to him in a gentle but rough way that only he could manage. Her honey brown eyes were still wet with tears. "Are you alright?" She nodded. Exhaling softly, he tucked his phone into his pocket. "I'll leave you to your resting. Do rest, Matsuri."

As he stood, her hand grabbed his wrist. "Stay for a while? I'm sure we can find something interesting to watch," she gestured toward the television set.

"Just because you are to rest doesn't mean that classes stopped having homework." Matsuri frowned at his response. Kyoya smirked as he sat back in the seat. He plucked the remote from the table and handed it to her. "Only for a short while."

The girl shuffled under her hospital issue blankets. "Come sit with me."

Kyoya watched her patting the blankets, the space she'd made for him, from behind his lenses. "Matsuri," he said.

"Come on, just for a short while, right?" she said using his own words.

With a heavy sigh, Kyoya stood from the chair and made his way to the other side of the bed, to the spot she'd made for him. Carefully, he climbed into the bed and settled into the pillows. Her shoulder pressed against his. Her body heat mixed with his. He was relieved that she was alright. When she'd hit the ground at the match, something in him broke. His control over the situation at hand, well the control that he had over himself in the situation, was lost. He knew that his actions were frantic as the paramedics retrieved her and brought her to the ambulance. He knew this because Tamaki had taken him by the shoulders and told him to calm down. Which at the time seemed like an impossible request. Seeing her like that, eyes closed and chest rising and falling in such a shallow manner, did nothing good for him. Now, sitting here with her, relief finally rush through him. She was okay, an idiot, but she was okay and that pleased him.

* * *

 **A/N:** Whoa, it's been a while. I've had some crazy stuff happen in my life and suck away any muse or motivation to write anything so there's that. I've been working on this for a while, writing bits and pieces of it as I find the motivation. So yeah. I haven't forgotten, I swear. There's just so much going on right now. But, let me know how you feel about this chapter with a review!

 **~ Nikki**


	26. Chapter 26

"Ootori-sama."

Kyoya turned his eyes from the laptop on his desk, the light on the screen reflecting off his glasses as he did so. Standing timidly in the doorway was one of the Estate's many maids. He shifted his gaze back down to the computer. "I am not hungry," he said, as him fingers began to move across the keyboard. He'd spent the past two days with Matsuri in the hospital, making sure that she was resting and not trying to anything that wasn't resting. Since he had been spending all his time there, he had little time to do schoolwork. She'd been released from the hospital earlier in the day, and after he escorted her home, he'd come straight to his room and started on all the assignments that he had put off over the past two days.

"Of course, Ootori-sama, but that's not why I am here," the maid continued.

His eyebrow arched as he looked over the screen of his computer at her, but didn't stop typing. "Yes?"

"Your father would like to see you, sir."

He frowned, fingers freezing over the keys, as he looked up at the girl in front of him. His father wanted to see him?

It was odd to have his father summon him to his office in the middle of the day. The last time his father had called him into his office, his father had saddled him with the task of setting up the conference. A challenge that he had successfully met and quite possibly exceeded expectations of. However, he didn't question the request, instead he moved away from his desk and stood up, brushing any creases from his pants. He then made his way from his room and down the hall towards his father's office.

"Kyoya," Ootori Yoshio greeted as his son entered the room. The youngest son had his hands clasped behind his back with a neutral expression on his face.

"Father," Kyoya greeted.

Things had been tense, more so than usual, between the two Ootori men since the dinner that they had had with Matsuri. Every interaction was carefully calculated. Kyoya wouldn't push any vein of conversation that he felt would ruffle his father's feathers. And much to his pleasure, his father had less conversation with him than usual, an amount that was already microscopic.

"Would you like to have a seat?"

"No, I'm fine standing."

Yoshio shrugged, leaning his elbows on his desk. "How have your studies been?"

Kyoya was at the top of his game with his studies. He had not earned anything less than a perfect score on any assignment, even the ones that he had rushed because he'd either been with Matsuri or wanted to spend time with her. Having the competition, the second in class a person that just happened to be his girlfriend, so close to him had a kind of thrill to it.

"They have been fine," Kyoya answered, curious as to know where this conversation was going. "Nothing that I can't handle."

His father was quiet, taking in his son's answer. He shifted, leaning back into the chair and folding his hands under his chin. "And the girl?"

"The girl?" Kyoya echoed, thoroughly confused.

"Kinjo Matsuri."

"What about her?" The son asked slowly.

There was a strange glint in Yoshio's eyes. "Are you still seeing her?"

"Yes."

The question had caught him off guard, even though it shouldn't have. Was he still seeing her? Did he think that just because he had called her to dinner to humiliate her that he would just stop seeing her? =

"Are you going to continue to see her?"

"Yes." His answer came without hesitation.

Yoshio stood from his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed. "Why do you insist upon bringing shame upon this family name? A family name that has been so pristine. Your brothers worked hard to keep this name in its place and you are singlehandedly trying to ruin it."

"I am doing no such thing,"

"Do not think me ignorant to your activities with Kinjo-san."

Kyoya's neutral expression faltered. The way that his father spat the word 'activities' left no room for interpretation on what he meant. He knew about that night after dinner, and possibly any other night between them. There was no doubting it. Kyoya struggled to regain his placid expression.

"That girl is nothing but trouble," the older man continued. "She will bring you nothing but distraction. She and that little club of yours; they are distractions."

"They are not distractions. They are choices, people that I choose to spend my time with, when I'm not doing school work. The Host Club has never interfered with my studies as you may know," Kyoya's tone was even, despite that fact that he could feel his blood starting to boil. "They are not distractions; they are my friends. And as I recalled, you wanted me to befriend Souh-san."

"I did. I am pleased with your friendship with him. However, the Hitachiin twins, were an unnecessary addition."

Kyoya flinched. His friends, none of them were unnecessary. He clenched his hands together a little tighter as he worked to control himself. "The Hitachiin twins are not unnecessary. You always told me to have acquaintances in every walk of life." He tried to play it as if he did not value the friendship of the twins, that this was a business arrangement. However, he had become quite fond of the two boys, not that he would ever say that to them. "And Kinjo-san," her formal name rolled off his tongue oddly, "it is not like her family is not well known on highly favorable circles." Play everything as if it were related to business.

"You're only with her because of her name?" his father asked, eyebrow lifting.

Kyoya's facade faltered again. He could say yes. However, he knew that there were many girls with more favorable names that he could pursue. It could backfire on him and force him to end his relationship, one he had grown to be most fond of, with Matsuri, who he had also grown very fond of. He could say no. If he said no, then his father would know. He would know that this girl, the sole heir to Kinjo Technologies, was his one weakness. He would know, and that worried Kyoya.

"I," he cleared his throat. Lie or tell the truth. Protect her or himself. He almost snorted at that. Protect her? Matsuri had already proven that she could fend for herself with his father. She had already shown that she could stand her ground. She didn't need protection. It was then that he realized that either way he was trying to protect himself. If he were to lie, say he was only there for her name, he was protecting himself from being hurt if something were to go wrong between them. If he told the truth, then he would be vulnerable. He wasn't doing it to protect her. He was trying to protect himself. "I am with her because I care for her."

"And you think she cares for you," the older man said. It was clear that it was meant to be a question, but it came across as a statement.

"I am certain she does," Kyoya said. He hadn't verbally confessed his affections for Matsuri to anyone and yet here he was, confessing them to the last person he ever thought he would and with such certainty.

His father almost laughed. "You're certain?" he echoed. "You're certain she cares for you? You're a naive boy. You are an Ootori. She cares for your name and money."

"No." His hands tightened into a fist behind his back as he spoke.

"No?"

"She has her own money, she doesn't care for mine." Kyoya shifted his stance, as he did the light moved from his glasses and his darkened grey eyes were revealed. "She's not here for my money."

"Of course, she is," his father said, slamming his hands on to the table. "Why else would she entertain you?"

Kyoya rolled his eyes despite his efforts to stop the action. "No, she's not here for the money." He was struggling to keep his voice even as he spoke. The more his father talked the more his fist tighten.

"Naive boy," his father scowled. "She does not have the temperament for the type of woman you need. She is too reckless, she doesn't know when to speak."

Kyoya scoffed. She was too passionate, lively, for his lifestyle. That's what his father was telling him. She needed to be seen and not heard, to sit and look pretty. He would never ask her to do that. She was too intelligent, too personable. "If you're referring to this most recent incident-"

"Yes."

"- she was playing for the recruiters. Was she reckless, absolutely. But she had reason." He couldn't believe he was defending her recklessness. "Was it a valid reason for her to be reckless, no, but it was her reasoning."

"She will only bring shame to this name," Yoshio told him. "She will distract you from your studies. She will bring you nothing but trouble and I will not stand for it."

He would not stand for it? What did that mean? Was he going to tell him that he could not see her anymore? That thought sent a cold chill coursing through his veins. Because he was sure that his father would say exactly that, Kyoya turned on his heel and left the room.

"Where are you going?" His father questioned loudly. Kyoya did not answer. "She's a bad influence on you." Kyoya still didn't answer, he just continued to walk. He could only assume that his father would stop talking as he did. "This will end badly for you, Kyoya. She will show you her true colors." The youngest Ootori flinched as he walked away.

The first thing he did when he stepped into his room was pick up his phone. Immediately he went to her number in his contacts and called it. It was such a reflexive action that he didn't realize that he had even done it until he heard her voice on the other end of the line.

"Kyoya?" she mumbled, there was a rustling on her end of the line. When he didn't answer her, the rustling grew louder. "Kyoya."

He knew that he wanted to talk to her, because she was the only person he could think of. But now that she was on the phone, he couldn't think of what to say.

"Kyoya, what happened?"

"Were you asleep?" His voice was hoarse.

"Well, I was, but it's no matter. I can sleep later. What's wrong?"

Kyoya tried to find the words to tell her what had happened, because it was clear that he wanted to. However, he couldn't find the words. They weren't there.

The rustling on her side of the line returned. "I'll come over, okay?" She said. It was now clear to him that the rustling was her getting out of bed. "I'll be there soon."

That was the last thing she said before she hung up the phone and he was left listening to a dial tone. He moved to sit back at his desk and he tried to focus his attention in on the assignment, but his mind kept wandering. The conversation he had had with his father should not be bothering him this much. He knew Matsuri. He knew that she cared for him. Didn't he? She was a lot like him in that way, she didn't voice her feelings often. She was more of a show how she feels than a say how she feels type of person.

In an effort to pull himself from his thoughts, the boy moved away from his desk and left his room. He'd meet her at the door, to eliminate any hostile interactions. His pace was brisk as he walked down the hall and towards the front door.

His timing was quite perfect. Just as he opened the door, a black car pulled to a stop in the driveway. She stepped out of the vehicle, dark hair in a loose ponytail and dressed more casually than he had ever seen her in a pair of fitted athletic pants and a sweatshirt. The corners of his lips turned upward as he watched her.

"Don't tease," she said when she saw him smirking. "I rolled out of bed and came here."

She came to a stop in front of him, a curious expression on her face. Before she could speak, Kyoya reached out, tucking his thumb under her chin, and kissed her, hard. She kissed him back, hands settling on his chest to steady herself. This was out of character for him. He'd kissed her in public, yes. However, it was rarely without reason or request and it was never like this. It would always be something brief, a swift brushing of their lips. Nothing like now, where his fingertips were digging into the fabric of her sweatshirt.

"Kyoya?" she muttered against his lips.

His fingers were still clenched in the fabric of her sweatshirt when he answered her, lips still close to hers. "Take a walk with me?" he questioned.

This was one of the rare occasions that he really asked her to do something. Most of the time, it was a request cleverly disguised as a question.

"Ok," she said.

His grip on her sweatshirt stayed tight for a long moment, before it released suddenly, almost as if he had just realized that he had been clinging to her in such a manner. He stepped away from her opening the space between them and cleared his throat. "I think you'll like the east garden. Come."

Matsuri followed him, hands pulled into the sleeves of her sweatshirt. Her strides were small in comparison to his larger ones, and it took her several of her small strides to keep up. Usually, Kyoya was more conscious of his step size but on some occasions, when he was lost in thought or upset, he would forget about it. She thought about saying something to him, to gently remind him, but she decided against it.

Once they reached the east end of the estate, he stopped, so suddenly that Matsuri almost ran into him. The girl peeked over his shoulder towards the garden. He was right; she did like it. The garden was centered around a small pond with a fountain in the center. Small shrubs and trees surrounded it. Some of the shrubs were filled with flowers. Others were just vibrant green. A pathway circled the pond, leading to a bench under a cherry blossom tree on the opposite side of the pond.

"You're right; I do like it," she commented.

Without saying anything, he started down the pathway. Matsuri sighed quietly, but followed. He walked with his hands behind his back, her were still pulled inside of the sleeves of her shirt.

"Yen for your thoughts, Kyoya?" Matsuri questioned at the end of the pathway as she moved to sit on the bench.

Kyoya kept walking towards the nearest shrub. "I spoke with my father today," he said slowly as he plucked a flower from the bush.

"Oh?"

Kyoya turned to face her, twisting the stem between his fingers. "About you."

"Oh." He was quiet and so was she. "What about me?" she said, trying to push the conversation.

Kyoya sighed and sat next to her, tucking the flower behind her ear. He then crossed his ankle over his knee, folding his fingers together and leaning his forearms on his leg. He watched the water of the pond, watching the ripples made by the fountain. "About why you are with me," he said bluntly.

"Why I'm with you?" she echoed.

"Yes."

Matsuri frowned. "What does that even mean?"

"He thinks you're here for the money and the name."

"Oh." Her frown deepened. She wasn't there for either of those things. She didn't think of Kyoya's money or his name. She only thought about him. Just Kyoya.

They lapsed into silence, the only sound around them was the sound of the water from the fountain hitting the ponds surface. Matsuri reached up and took the flower from behind her ear. Only then did she notice that it was a lavender rose. She mimicked his action of twisting the stem between her fingers. They'd talked about her? About the fact that his father thought that she was only with his son for his money and the Ootori name. Which she wasn't. She wasn't just there for the money. She cared him for him. Matsuri glanced over at Kyoya, who hadn't shifted his position. He looked like he was deep in thought, and she couldn't quite figure out what he was thinking. This wasn't something that he should have to think about. She remained quiet just like him; her attention focused on the rose in her fingers.

"I love you," Kyoya said suddenly, as if he were testing the phrase. His posture didn't straighten, his body tensed and it looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but there.

Both his voice and his words caught her off guard. After not hearing his voice for so long, the sound his smooth tenor voice ringing in the air immediately caught her attention. As did what he said. As he spoke, her action of twisting the rose between her fingers stopped suddenly, so much so that the flower fell from her fingers and to the grass under the bench. It wasn't that she didn't know that she felt that way, but he hadn't expected him to openly say it in such a manner. The openness and suddenness of the confession is what caught her off guard. "What?" she said quietly, her gaze shifting to him again.

"I love you," he repeated, more carefully this time. The words were more pronounced, less sudden. To her well-trained ear, she could hear the slight tremor in his voice.

Matsuri sat watching him, dumbfounded. Had he just… Despite herself, and no matter how hard she tried to bite it back, a smile found its way to her lips. He hadn't been thinking, he'd been trying to formulate a way to say that to her; trying to build up the courage to say it.

He shifted, sitting up straight to look at her. "Matsuri-chan…"

He'd just placed himself in the most vulnerable position that he possibly could and she was just watching him. She could hear the hesitation in his voice and how tense her name sounded, as if he truly regretted what he had just said to her. Or as if he felt that she didn't feel the same. Which of course, she knew he knew to be a lie. At least she hoped that he did. "I love you too." Kyoya exhaled a breath that he didn't know that he was holding in as the tensed muscles in his body relaxed. "Are you alright?" she teased.

He nudged her roughly with his shoulder. "Don't tease, Matsuri-chan," he told her on another exhale.

A silence lapsed over them, but this one was unlike the first. The first had been heavy, suffocating almost. It was so obvious that Kyoya was deep in thought, in some sort of internal conflict with himself, that she knew that she shouldn't say anything to him but she desperately wanted to help him, to talk it out. But he had to do it on his own, in typical Kyoya fashion. This one was much lighter. The air wasn't thick with thought and concentration. It was like it always was between them when there was nothing to say, a peaceful silence. No unnecessary words.

"Ootori-san," she said suddenly.

Kyoya gazed at her from the corner of his eye, a curious glint in them as to why she had been so formal when it was just the two of them. "Hmm?"

"Will you take me to lunch? Maybe we can get a chocolate croissant."

"Those are only good at 3 am," Kyoya commented.

"We'll never know unless we try one before then."

A soft smirk came to his lips. "Yes, I suppose you're right." He stood up and held his hand out to her. She placed her smaller hand in his and pulled her up, the motion so sudden that she stumbled into his chest. She brushed her dark hair from her face and looked up at him, as she took a half step back from him and dropped her hand from his. Kyoya plucked the rose from her fingers, examining the petals and the stem, before dropping it to the ground. In the same motion, he reached towards a bush and plucked another rose from it, before tucking it behind her ear. "Would you like to go home and change?" he teased, pulling at the fabric of her sweatshirt, before leaning down to brush his lips against hers.

She pushed him away playfully, rolling her eyes. "No, I want to eat a croissant in my sweatshirt."

Kyoya huffed as he pushed his hands into his pockets and started away from her. The first few steps he took were long strides, purposely to make her have to run to keep up with him. Matsuri ran a bit but the stopped. Kyoya glanced over his shoulder when he didn't hear her footsteps on the grass anymore, to see her standing there. He slowed his pace and continued away from her. He heard her footsteps again, faster and heavier than usual. Before he could look over his shoulder, he felt her weight collide with his back as her arms and legs wrapped around his frame.

"Suri," he mumbled as he held her up. Her chin rested on his shoulder, lips close to the ear. The sound of her laughter ran through his body. She pressed a chaste kiss to his neck, smiling. "I could have dropped you."

She shook her head. "No. I trust you."

The corner of Kyoya's lips turned upward ever so slightly as her words echoed in his head. _I trust you._ "Let us go to the croissants," he said, not knowing how to reply to her. He didn't attempt to put her down as they walked, and she didn't try to be put down. She was perfectly content with him carrying her, and he was more than perfectly content with carrying her.

* * *

 **A/N:** So, I figured that I would come back with a BANG! I am so sorry for my disappearing act. Honestly, I just go so busy with life that I really had no time to write and the crippling writers block that I had didn't help anything either. I've been working on this chapter on and off for a few weeks and I finally got it to what I wanted it to be. So, I hope you all really enjoyed it! Let me know what you think! Leave a review for me, okay?


	27. Chapter 27

_Matsuri-hime,_

 _You have been cordially invited to attend this year's Host Club Year End Event. After a lengthy research process, we have decided to have this Year's Event at none other than Tokyo Disneyland! The trip will be next weekend, Friday through Sunday. This trip will be all inclusive meaning no expense to you. We will be staying at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel and spending three days and two nights at the park. With exclusive tours and night outings, this isn't something you'll want to miss!_

 _Please RSVP within the next 48 hours, Princess._

 _Yours truly,_

 _The Host Club_

Kinjo Matsuri lowered the letter in her hands to the surface of her desk where it had been when she walked into the classroom along with a lavender rose. An invitation to the Host Club Year End Event. Carefully, she folded the invitation back into three as she tucked it away in her backpack, only leaving the RSVP card on the desk. Taking the pen to the paper, she wrote her name on the line dedicated for names and then checked the _'Yes, I will be attending_ ' box. Before she could do anything else, Ami appeared in front of her, taking the pen from her hand to do the same.

"I am so excited!" she whispered, as she also checked the _yes_ box. "I have always wanted to go on one of these trips. Disneyland, Matsuri. Disneyland." Ami leaned closer to her and continued to speak. "Ida-san, rumor has it, didn't get invited." Matsuri took her pen back and scribbled the date in the corner of her paper in preparation for the class lecture, looking down to hide her half smile. "I believe Airi-chan got one, but a lot of girls that frequent the club didn't."

"I doubt that they can pay for everyone in the school to go on a weekend trip to Disneyland," Matsuri muttered. "Sakura-chan's desk looks empty as well."

"Can I room with you?" Ami said, and then smiled. "Unless you want to room with, I don't know, Kyoya-kun." Matsuri looked up, her face completely red, as she hit her friend. "I'm kidding!"

"I should have never told you anything," Matsuri said, huffing.

"Suri," his smooth tenor voice greeted as he chastely pressed his lips to the side of her neck. A subtle motion that only she and Ami really noticed, seeing as it happened so quickly. In the same motion as him pressing his lips to her neck, he reached around her form and took both girls' RSVP cards. "Ami-chan," he greeted, as he looked at the cards. "I assume you'll want to room together?" he questioned.

"If possible," Matsuri answered looking up at him.

Kyoya sighed deeply. "Yes, it's more cost effective to have two to a room, but you know Tamaki. 'Only the best for the princesses'," Kyoya said in his best impression of Tamaki. The two girls shared a laugh as Kyoya pocketed the cards. "Is a Park View okay for you both?"

"Whatever you want us to have, Kyoya," Matsuri answered.

"Ami-chan?" He said, turning the question to his girlfriend's best friend knowing that he would get a straight answer from her.

"Yes, Park View, please," she answered with no hesitation.

"How many people did Tamaki invite?" Matsuri asked.

"Thirty classmates, the Club plus Honey- and Mori-sempai," he said with a deep sigh. "He's trying to drain the club of every penny we have."

Matsuri brushed her hand against his before her fingers clasped around his hand. "He means well. We'll have a great time."

"And the Club will have no money," he replied with another deep sigh. He turned his hand palm up, letting her small one fall into his. This was clearly bothering him.

"Pay for Matsuri, if it bothers you so," Ami said, teasingly.

"I have," he said as if it were not an issue.

"Kyoya!" she exclaimed, pulling her hand away from him and glaring. "Kyoya, the Club and-"

"Hush, Matsuri; it's already done. I always budgeted for the two of you rooming together," he gestured between the two friends, "it's no problem." Matsuri looked as if she wanted to continue her rant. "Let it go, Suri; it's been done."

Matsuri deflated. "Fine." There was clearly no winning with him. "Go to your seat, before I change my mind."

A smile ghosted over his lips as he pulled his hand from hers. "Let it go, Matsuri-chan," he told her, switching from a very familiar name to one more suitable for public usage as the room started to fill.

* * *

There were many upset ladies over the course of the day. Kyoya fielded some of them, using his cool demeanor to send them away. Some took longer than others and the ones that started to cry, well, needless to say, Kyoya had no idea what to do with them and merely sent them to Tamaki. After all, Tamaki had approved the list of attendees. The blond smoothed things over with the crying girls and with the ones that were just upset that they were not invited. He was some kind of miracle worker, because every girl that approached him, crying or not, left him smiling.

By the time, it was time for the Host Club to open for business, Kyoya refused, absolutely refused, to talk to anyone, especially Tamaki, but Matsuri. She sat across from him, nursing a cup of rose tea, as he typed furiously on his keyboard, each key stroke more vicious than the next. Finally, she reached over with one hand and stopped his motion.

"The keyboard isn't the thing you're angry at," she said.

"I can't very well pummel, Tamaki," he replied, his voice low as he glared over at Tamaki. Matsuri smiled as she brought the cup to her lips and he started to type again. "He wants an itinerary, by next week, and room numbers and," he groaned aloud and clicked through the tabs to something else. "One double room, you and Ami, room 6520, six singles for the Hosts all corner rooms, Karou and Hikaru want one room, and twenty-nine singles for the guests," he mumbled under his breath. "This is costing us a fortune," he said rubbing his temples. "Park tickets and lunches and night tours."

"Kyoya," she said as calmly as she could. "Kyoya, calm down. It will be fine." From the corner of her eye, she saw Tamaki starting to approach them. "Go away, Tamaki. You have angered Kyoya enough already."

"No fast passes," he questioned, suddenly looking very much like a dog.

Kyoya's hand fisted tightly at Tamaki's words. "No," he all but growled.

Matsuri sighed, turning to face Tamaki, who had managed to flee into a corner and still looked very much like a dog. "Tamaki, maybe you shouldn't ask Kyoya for any more money, ever again," she teased. "I'll talk to him, okay?"

"You truly are the best," Tamaki said. "You are the greatest, Matsuri-hime. I've never been so glad to have you here."

Matsuri waved him away and looked towards Kyoya, who was rubbing his temples again. "I have something to ask you," she said, smiling at him.

"Hmm?"

"Can you set up a meet and greet with Micky for me?" she teased, bursting into a fit of laughter, as Kyoya looked up at her with a look of sheer irritation and outrage in his gray eyes. "I kid. I kid," she continued, smiling at him as she brought the cup up to her lips and continued to chuckle.

"You are working your way onto my list of people that I will be unable to talk to," he told her.

"Is that so, Ootori-san?" she questioned playfully.

Kyoya looked over the top of his computer and exhaled, catching her eye. "Did you really want a meet and greet with Micky, Suri?" he asked with an arched eyebrow. Matsuri blushed, rolling her eyes. "Yes?"

"No," she mumbled into her cup. While it was a childish request, she did want one, but she'd never say that to him.

"I'll see what I can do about that for you," he told her, turning his gaze to the screen before him. "Have you heard back from the recruiters?" he questioned, pushing the conversation in a different direction.

The cup in her hands hit the table a little harder than she had intended, as she lowered it. "Nothing yet," she replied tensely.

"Are you concerned about it?"

She scoffed and rolled her honey colored eyes. "Concerned? Kyoya I fainted, in case you forgot." Her tone was sharp and caught him just a little off guard, so much so that he took his eyes away from the Disney homepage and towards her. "I apologize, I didn't mean to snap. I just," she shrugged, "I'm not sure if I want to hear anything from them since I'm not sure what they will have to say."

"Trust me, I have not forgotten that you fainted," he stated flatly. "Do you want the truth or do you want me to be supportive?" he asked, a hint of teasing found its way into his tone.

"Neither."

"I'm sure that it will be fine. You did play well."

"Until I fainted," she completed for him.

Kyoya shrugged, reaching over to tuck a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. "I'm sure you will hear back soon."

"What about you? Which of the prestigious universities did you decide to grace with your presence?" she questioned, turning the topic to him.

"I accepted both University of Tokyo and Kyoto University on a conditional basis," he told her, as he brought his eyes back to the screen.

"What's the deciding factor?" she questioned curiously leaning forward with her elbows on the table.

"The program directors. They are both coming to do interviews next week and asked to speak with me. I'll make my decision then," he told her, before closing his laptop. "Tamaki can have the fast passes if he wishes. It's been placed in the budget."

Matsuri leaned across the table and pressed a swift kiss to his cheek. "You are truly wonderful," she told him as she settled back into her seat. They were quiet for a moment, as Kyoya started to write on his notepad. "What's your room number?" she asked.

"6251," Kyoya recited from memory. "On the opposite side of the floor from Tamaki." He continued to write and then stopped. "Why?" he questioned, a curious glint in his eye.

"Hmm, you know where I am. I was just curious."

"Oh?"

"Yes," she answered more quickly than she should have.

Kyoya went back to writing, a smirk on his lips at her question. What reason would she have for asking him about his room number? Of course, he could only think of one, and the thought warmed his skin.

"Stop thinking about it," she told him. "I just wanted to know what room you were staying in. Nothing more."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," the smirk finding its way into his voice.

She reached across the table and hit his arm. "Stop it."

"I'm not doing anything," he told her again, holding his hands up in mock surrender but laughing.

Red faced, she stood up from the table and crossed her arms over her chest in preparation of storming away. Kyoya also stood. With a huffy expression on her face, she turned to walk away from him. However, he was too quick for her. He reached out and grabbed her hand and pulled her back toward him. Matsuri, always bit too uncoordinated off the tennis court, stumbled back into him. One arm wrapped around her waist as she balanced herself. "Stop it," she huffed, although she hardly struggled against his hold on her.

"Kinjo-san," he muttered, his lips against her neck. "Trust me when I say that you would never be unwelcome in my room." Matsuri did struggle then, but only because her face had started to redden and she had a desire to hide her face. "Would you like a key, Kinjo-san?" he questioned, pressing a lingering kiss to her neck, one that lasted a bit too long for a public setting. He released her and she ducked her head, covering her face with her hands.

"You're terrible, Kyoya," she told him through her fingers.

"Would you like a key?" he questioned again, no sign of teasing in his voice.

She turned to him and hit his arm again. "You're the worst. You know, I get all flustered when you do that." He pushed his glasses up with his finger, watching her. "You're serious," she said. "Kyoya!"

"I will tell them to leave a key for you. You may come and go as you like?" he posed.

With her face still red, she nodded. "Fine. But I'm going to sit with Haruhi."

He chuckled, before sitting back down in his seat and watching her walk over to the Host Club's female Host and sit beside her. Haruhi looked over at him as Matsuri pointed at him, still red faced. Haruhi said something and Matsuri's face grew redder and she dropped her face into her hands again.

* * *

 **A/N:** Happy New Year! New year, new chapter. I'm trying really hand to get this story back up and running, I really love it and I love that you all love it. So hopefully this works out. But Disneyland? That's exciting, right? Just a heads up, the Disneyland segment will maybe be four or five chapters. Definitely one chapter a day, so at minimum three, but I can't decide if I want to add some twists in here or not. It's always fun for me to write Kyoya and Matsuri together doing like couple things, because of how calculated he always is and how Matsuri is kind of his undoing in that manner. Anyway, let me know what you think!

 **~ Nikki**


	28. Chapter 28

"Kyoya-kun!"

The third born Ootori had been walking down the hallway of Ouran Academy when a slender hand reached out from around a corner and grabbed the front of his school blue blazer and white shirt. Before he could even react to this sudden action, he was being pulled around the corner by the slender hand. His glasses slipped down his nose and he moved to push them back to their rightful place.

"Kyoya."

This time he could place the voice. "Matsuri?" he questioned, as he brushed the wrinkles out of his shirt and blazer. "What are you doing?"

Without speaking, she pushed a piece of paper into his hands.

 _Kinjo-san,_

 _We would be most honored if you would come and speak with us today at 12:15 pm in the 1A literature classroom. If you accept, please send the attached acceptance card with one of our student representatives located in the library, dining hall, and front entrance way of the school before eleven am._

 _Thank you,_

 _Representatives of Ouran University_

Kyoya glanced down at his watch, _10:45_. He then looked at her for the first time since she'd pulled him into the hall. She looked fine, her dress was wrinkle free and her dark hair was pulled back into a perfect braid. However, it was her eyes that looked a little frantic. "Matsuri?"

"I don't want to talk to them," she told him, leaning against the wall across from him.

Kyoya rolled his gray eyes and sighed, he had not time for her tomfoolery today. He then pulled the attached acceptance card from the note she handed him. After reading over it, to ensure that he wasn't committing her to anything, he took a pen from his shirt pocket and signed her name on it. "I don't believe that you have a choice," he told her as he left the hall she had pulled him down.

Startled by his actions, she stood still for a moment confused as to what happened. Had he just... Matsuri pushed away from the wall she was on before chasing him down the hall. When she caught up with him, he was walking with his hands folded behind his back, her acceptance card pinched between his index and middle finger. "Kyoya-kun!" she hissed and she ran up to him, the honorific a complete afterthought, reaching for her card to take it from him. "Kyoya. I don't want to talk to them!" She reached for him again only to have him move his hand just slightly out of her reach without turning to look at her.

"Matsuri," he said, stopping and turning to face her. She'd made a motion to reach for the card as he turned and she ran face first into his chest. Rubbing her nose with her palm, she took a step back from him. "You're being ridiculous." Her pink lips formed a pout as she dropped her hand from her nose. "You are. Instead of hiding around dark corners," he gestured towards the space that they had just come from, "you're going to go and talk to these representatives and you are going to hear them out. You are not going to do this, Matsuri. You're second in class, an athlete, incredibly talented, and come from an extremely well-off family. You are not going to play the scared little girl because that's not who you are. So, if you are going to play around, I will take this to the representative."

Matsuri reached behind him and took, snatched really, the card, exhaling. "I'll take it." The dark-haired girl walked away from him and towards the entrance of the library. Once she got to the library door, she reached out to twist the door knob. However, she froze, her fingers twitching over the door. After a slow inhale, she twisted open the door and walked in. The Ouran University student rep was easily located. With no conversation, she handed the rep the card and left.

"Painless?" his smooth tenor questioned as he fell into step with her when she left the room. When she didn't reply, just folded her arms across her chest, he groaned audibly. How could she be upset with _him_? "Matsuri. You were being silly."

"Kyoya," she said quietly.

"You can't hide from things and just hope they will go away. It doesn't work that way. You have to face things," he continued as if she had not said a thing.

"Kyoya," she said a bit louder.

"- head on. Otherwise, you'll just-"

"Kyoya!" she half-shouted. He turned his gray eyes down to her, surprised that she was raising her voice at him. "Thank you," she said reaching over and giving his hand a soft squeeze. "I can always count on you to tell me when I'm being, what was it, ridiculous."

Kyoya stood dumbstruck. "You're welcome?" he said carefully. "Wait; you wanted me to-"

"I didn't want you to sign my paper, that was a little much, but I did want you to tell me I was being ridiculous, well, I would have said silly but it's all the same," she answered. "Like I said, thank you."

* * *

Of course, the calm that Kyoya had bestowed upon her did not last until her interview with the representatives. It started with a creeping sensation in her mathematics course, one that started in her toes as a sort of gnawing feeling and slowly made its way up to her fingertips until her hands were shaking. So much so that, Ami reached across the aisle and placed her hand on hers to keep it from shaking. Her attempt was in vain, because as soon as Ami released her, Matsuri's hand started to shake.

Halfway through the class, she had to stop taking notes because they had become all but indecipherable. Instead, she sat with her pen in her hand, nervously tapping it against the paper, causing plenty of darkly colored dots on her the corner of her paper, and looking blankly at the board. Suddenly, something fell onto her desk, a half-folded paper.

 _Calm down_.

Matsuri looked up towards Kyoya, who was sitting three seats in front of her and a row to her left. His back was turned to her and he was diligently taking notes.

 _I am calm_.

Matsuri placed the note on Ami's desk and watched it as it made its way up two seats and watched it fall on Kyoya's desk. His eyes fell on the note, but he never stopped writing as he flipped the note open with one hand. It was then that he looked away from his notes and over his shoulder at her with an accusatory glare in his eye. He simply held open the note so she could see her handwriting. Normally, her characters had her signature feminine touch to them, however, today they were sloppy and totally illegible. She frowned and looked down at her notes and Kyoya took that as a sign that she understood and turned back to his notes.

After class, Kyoya placed his hands on her desk, flipping her notebook shut. Matsuri looked up at his towering form, frowning. The light on his glasses kept her from seeing his eyes but she was sure that his gaze was disapproving. "Do you need me to tell you that you are being ridiculous again?" he said as he watched her push her notebook into her bag when she had completed her task he reached down and shouldered her bag.

"No," she huffed. "No, I'm fine." Kyoya reached over and grabbed her hand, his fingers lacing with hers for a moment. It was then that she noticed that her hand had started to shake again. "Ugh!" she exclaimed in frustration. The fact that she couldn't keep her hand from shaking was driving her insane. She had never been this nervous about anything.

Kyoya pulled her out of her chair and led her out of the room. They were silent as they walked down the hall, Matsuri's hand shaking in his, although their fingers were no longer laced together. Kyoya pushed open the door of Music Room #3 and tugged her into the room, before shutting the door behind her. He dropped her bag on the floor and turned to her, taking her face in his hand.

"Matsuri. You need to calm down," he told her, his gray eyes finding her brown ones. "Hey."

"I'm trying!" she said exasperatedly.

Kyoya glanced down at his watch and exhaled. He released his grip on her face and took a step away from. "What do you need, Matsuri?" she questioned, his logic taking over again. "What will help you calm down?"

"I don't know," she said waving her hands around frantically. "I'm just nervous."

Kyoya walked away from her, pushing his hands into his pockets. Matsuri's eyes tracked him as he moved, inhaling and exhaling in a tempo that made her heart pound in her chest. He then shifted his hands from his pockets to folded behind his back as he moved around the room and she watched, standing with her hands fisted in the fluffy fabric of her yellow dress. He stopped in front of a piano, leaning against it and pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Has that-"

"-always been here?" he finished for her. "Well, it is a music room, isn't it?" He gestured for her to come to him, and after a moment of hesitation, she obeyed. Instead of standing next to him, she flopped down on the piano bench and placed her elbows on the keys, causing a tasteless dissonant chord. Kyoya flinched. "You are being very dramatic," he told her as he pushed her elbows off the keys and lowered the lid. "Yen for your thoughts?" he questioned.

Matsuri offered a half-hearted chuckle at the words he uttered. "I've told you already," she offered. "They can only have bad news for me. 'Sorry, Kinjo-san, while your playing is decent, you are a liability'," she said in her best impression of an Ouran University Representative.

"One time, Matsuri?"

"A first impression can last a lifetime," she mused, hanging her head.

Kyoya rolled his gray eyes at her, scoffing. He reached over and pulled her up from the bench. "Am I going to have to drag you down the hall again?"

Matsuri shook his grasp, sighing and pushing a piece of stray hair from her eyes. "No," she whined. "No. I'm going to go. I am. I just am not in a mood to receive bad news. "

"So pessimistic," he said.

Matsuri gasped loudly, her eyes wide with some form of amused irritation. "You're calling me pessimistic? You!? You are calling me a pessimist?"

"I am a realist, Matsuri."

"Well, Realist Ootori Kyoya, please tell me what they might have to say. Realistically."

"They could be calling you in to offer you a spot on the team, saying that your playing was superb despite your recklessness. Not to mention that your grades are great," he told her.

"Or..." she pushed.

Kyoya pushed away from the piano. "Or you could be right and they have called you into the room to laugh at you and deny you. The likelihood of that scenario happening is very low." She looked as if she wanted to say something and to let her know that he didn't want to hear it he started back towards her backpack and held it out to her. "Come on, Suri, be reasonable and less pessimistic, if you will."

"Fine!" she exclaimed as she brushed the wrinkles out of her skirt and tucked that loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I will go," she marched over to him and snagged her bag from his hand and tossed it onto her back, "to this meeting and talk to the representatives and if they say anything like what I said, you have to tell me that I'm right and you're wrong."

With that, she pulled the door open and looked over her shoulder at him. "Go or you'll be late," he said, shooing her away. She glanced at the clock in the hallway and gasped, not realizing that it was that late. Without so much as a goodbye to Kyoya, she turned and ran down the hall. "That a girl," Kyoya muttered, as he left the room walking in the opposite direction that she'd just run off in.

* * *

Kinjo Matsuri knocked on the 1A literature classroom door at 12:14 pm. After knocking, she took a half a second to adjust herself. After running down the hall, only stopping to get water at the fountain around the corner, she had come to a frantic stop in front of the door. This door. She tucked her hair behind her ear and rubbing her forehead on the inner part of her sleeve to remove any sweat from her forehead.

"Come in."

Matsuri reached for the doorknob and once again, her hand froze over the doorknob. This time, Kyoya's intense gray eyes weren't on her, pushing her to enter the room. Instead, she had to find something within herself. She had to push herself. So, she did, wrapped her fingers around the doorknob and twisted it open.

"Kinjo-san?"

"Yes." The raven-haired girl said with a low bow.

"I am Ono Haru, the head of the human sciences faculty and this is Takana Airi, the head women's tennis coach at Ouran University," the man, Ono-Sensei, introduced. The woman next to him offered Matsuri a soft smile and gestured to the single seat on the opposite side of the table.

"How are you, Kinjo-san?" Takana-sensei asked her.

"Well," Matsuri answered immediately, not giving herself any time to hesitate or over think. "Yourself?"

"I am doing the same," she replied.

"Kinjo-san, let's get started, shall we?" Ono-sensei said, interrupting them as he opened a folder in front of him. Takana-sensei tilted her head to the man with a smile. "Your grades throughout your time at Ouran have been," he paused looking for a word. In that moment, it was clear to her that this man was not one to give praise. "Acceptable," was the word he settled on. "You have recently become second in your class." When he lifted his eyes to her, she nodded acknowledging his statement as correct. "The recommendations from your teachers here are adequate. They all say that you are a hardworking and personable student; that you are able to face challenges with great flexibility." He looked away from the papers in front of him and towards Matsuri. "Based on this, you are a fit for Ouran University. Congratulations. Tanaka-san."

"Yes," the woman looked down at the papers in front of her. "You have been playing tennis for Ouran Academy since your middle school years. You were on the club team and upon reaching your first year of high school, you were placed on the competitive team. This year was your first year as a captain, yes?" Matsuri nodded. "Your Sensei sent a raving recommendation." Takana-sensei held up two pages stapled together in her Sensei's handwriting. Matsuri could only make out a few words but from what she could see Takana told the truth. The woman lowered the paper and folded her hands on top of it. "Your teammates also hold you in a high light. They say you are a strong leader, that knows when to push and when to let go; the difference between work and play. As you know, we watched one of your matches."

"I was ill," Matsuri countered before the Sensei could say anything about the match. "I should have sat the-"

"During the match, we saw, the current captain and I, a determined player. One with a fiery look in her eyes. A player with superb technique and quick footwork. A player that is calm on the court even in the face of great trial. The Ouran University Women's Tennis team is more than happy to offer you a position on the team."

Matsuri blinked rapidly, confused. "You are?"

"We are. Miwa-chan, could you come in?"

The door behind her creaked open and Matsuri turned over her shoulder to see the person who entered. A tall woman with short red hair. A woman that looked most familiar to her.

"Miwa-senpai!" Matsuri said happily as she pushed away from the table, standing to hug the older girl.

"You know, when I saw you playing, I couldn't believe that I had trained such a reckless girl. You are such a calm person, Matsuri-kun that it was quite amusing to see you in such a state. I insisted that you be offered a position on the team, not because I trained and perfected your spin shot, but because it's rare to see a player with such passion," Miwa told her. "Do you accept?"

* * *

"Kyoya-kun!" Matsuri whisper-shouted as she half-ran into the dining hall, again the honorific was a complete afterthought. "Kyoya-kun!" She spotted him at his usual table, sitting next to Tamaki and writing something down in his notepad. Leave it to Tamaki to make Kyoya work through his lunch period. Haruhi and the twins were sitting on the opposite side of the table, watching the scene before them. She approached the table, placing her hands on it loudly. "Kyoya."

The glasses wearing boy looked up from his notepad and to Matsuri, who had an incredibly giddy look on her face. The first smile that he'd seen on her face all day. "Painless?" he asked, echoing his phrase from earlier, a smirk on his lips.

Matsuri laughed and sat across from him. "Completely."

"Did you accept?" he asked, pushing a lunch tray towards her.

The thought to thank him for getting her lunch didn't cross her mind, and he didn't seem the least bit upset that she didn't. She opened her strawberry flavored Ramune and smiled. "Yes."

* * *

A/N: Here's another chapter for you all! I hope you enjoyed it. I just have a couple of things to say. So firstly, the next chapter addresses Haruhi and her schooling. If you are familiar with the manga, then you know what I mean, if not you'll just have to wait and see. So, for those familiar with the manga, I have taken creative license over that. It's not a big change or anything like that, I will stay true to the plot of the last few chapters of the manga, but the story is about Matsuri, so I had to throw her into the fray. So just be on your toes about it. Secondly, I assume everyone has enjoyed these past few Matsoya/Kysuri (I have a ship name for the because let's be honest, they're my OTP) centric chapters. I really love writing them, because they are so different but similar at the same time. This next chapter will take a break from that and is Haruhi/Matsuri based, but after then we go to Disney! Okay, leave me a review and tell me how much you love Kysuri (that's my favorite).


	29. Chapter 29

Kinjo Matsuri collapsed back on her bed with a deep sigh, raven hair fanning out around her head like a dark halo. Packing was truly awful. She rolled over onto her side, looking at the open suitcase on her floor. The contents of said suitcase were perfectly folded and organized. Something to change into after school on Friday, something to wear to dinner Friday night, two outfits for Saturday day, two for Saturday night, and then one for Sunday. She figured that she had done well with her packing and decided that she was done, at least with the clothing part of the matter.

A muffled vibrating sound caught her attention. Matsuri sat up quickly, feeling around her bed for the source of the sound. Ami had sent her a text earlier asking if three suitcases were too many. To that Matsuri had replied with a simple straight face emoticon. She figured that the reason her phone was vibrating now was because of Ami. However, when she looked at the caller ID she saw a picture of her and Haruhi, where the latter was wearing a Grecian toga.

"Haruhi, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Senpai," the younger girl said. "Can I talk to you or am I interrupting your packing for this weekend?"

Matsuri waved her hand in a dismissive manner, even though her friend could not see it. "No, of course, you're not interrupting me. What's on your mind?" she questioned, kicking something on her floor.

"I," Haruhi hesitated. "I spoke with Souh-sama earlier today and he told me about this opportunity that the school was offering."

"Oh?" Matsuri said quietly when Haruhi paused clearly needing encouragement. "What is said opportunity?"

"The school sends deserving students to study abroad, ones with superior grades and the system covers it all," Haruhi continued. "It's an exchange program with a school in America."

"Really?"

"Souh-sama offered for me to be one of those students."

"Oh! Haruhi, that's great! All that hard work that you've been doing and balancing that with working over the summer and Hosting," Matsuri rambled off. However, Haruhi's side of the line was silent. "Haruhi. Are you not excited?"

"I am, I am," the cross-dressing host said. "I am honored to have been offered this opportunity." She went quiet again. "It's just, the Club..."

Matsuri was quiet this time completely understanding her struggle. She had been quietly struggling with something very similar to this. Kyoya was off to a prestigious university, he had his pick of them, while she was going to Ouran University. While it was no less prestigious, it was a school where she wouldn't see Kyoya every day like she was used to. Ouran University was a fantastic school and she was more than happy to be going there, but she'd be without Kyoya, and while he wouldn't be on the other side of the world, it was still a distance she did not wish to have between them. "I see." She leaned over to pick something up off the floor and folded it. "You know, we want you to do what is best for you, Haruhi. We want you to go if you can."

"I know." She was quiet again and Matsuri allowed her the silence. She continued around her room folding the clothes that she had thrown on the floor as she was packing. "It's just…"

Matsuri closed a drawer. "Is it about Tamaki-kun and how you love him?" Haruhi made a sound somewhere between choking, sputtering, and gasping. On her end of the line, something shattered on the floor. "Haruhi?"

"No! It's not about Tamaki-senpai!" Matsuri sat quietly on her end of the line, waiting. Haruhi sighed loudly. "How did you know?"

"How did I know you were in love with Tamaki-kun?" Matsuri echoed with a laugh. "I see you. None of us tolerate his games, shenanigans as Kyoya calls them, like you. You always see the good in him and I just knew. Just like you knew with Kyoya," Matsuri added.

"Well, Kyoya was very obvious about it," Haruhi said, trying to take the topic off of herself.

Matsuri opened her mouth to argue that point but decided not to because they weren't talking about her and Kyoya. "So what are you going to do?"

"About America?"

"Tamaki," Matsuri flipped her suitcase shut with her foot. "You're going to tell him, right?"

"Tell him?"

"That you love him. Keep up, Haruhi!" Matsuri scolded.

"I could never do that, Senpai!" Haruhi said, not bothering to explain, either that or she was completely unable to explain herself.

Matsuri, on the other hand, wouldn't let her get away so easily. "And why is that?"

Again, Haruhi was quiet. Matsuri allowed her the quiet again, waiting for her to formulate an answer. "He doesn't-"

"Not a good enough reason." the older girl said, cutting her off.

"What?"

"Thinking that he doesn't or might not feel the same is never a good excuse. Remember, I'm dating the Shadow King himself," she teased.

Haruhi laughed quietly. "Of course," the other end of the line was quiet again. "How could I tell him?" she asked quietly. "How did you tell Kyoya-senpai, if you don't mind me asking?"

Matsuri shook her head as she walked into her bathroom and started to gather her necessary toiletries. "I didn't actually. I wanted to, but I never did. He told me first." Haruhi gasped and Matsuri smiled. "Yeah, sat me down outside in the East Garden and said 'I love you' all fast and jumbled and nervous. I couldn't believe it. You know Kyoya, he plays his cards close to his chest and he just came out with it like that. And of course, it didn't help his nervousness that I sat there gaping at him like a schoolgirl when he said it instead of saying it right back. It wasn't planned or anything, at least on my part, you know Kyoya plans for months in advance, I was in a pair of athletic pants and an Ouran Tennis sweatshirt when he told me."

"Senpai told you first?"

"Aye," she replied grabbing a bottle of sunblock to toss into her toiletry bag. "Now if the Shadow King can do it, I'm sure you can."

"But you love him."

"He didn't know what I would say when he told me," she replied shrugging. "That's why it's never an excuse. You always have to go for it."

"Go for it?"

"We're going to Disneyland tomorrow, the happiest and most romantic place on Earth. I'm sure we can figure out a time for you and Tamaki to get together, maybe a nighttime stroll through the park under fireworks or..."

"Senpai!"

"Too much?"

The two girls shared a laugh. Matsuri was never one to help with relationships. After all, before Kyoya she hadn't really had one. There had been dates that her father had set up with worthy suitors, but nothing panned out. So, for her to be sitting on the phone with Haruhi, trying to figure out how she could tell her true feelings to Tamaki, was new territory. Although not as new a territory as Haruhi was exploring. But now, Matsuri understood why some girls stayed up all night on the phone. It was fun and relaxing, in its own way.

"Senpai," Haruhi said later. They had been on the phone for a while and it was clear to Haruhi that Matsuri's time spent with the members of the Host Club, especially Hikaru and Kaoru, had rubbed off on her tremendously. Matsuri was saying things that were truly ridiculous, mostly in jest. Then there were other lines of conversation that weren't nearly as ridiculous and actually made sense. For Haruhi, it was good to have someone to talk to about this situation. It had been weighing heavily on her mind.

"Hmm?" Matsuri questioned.

"Thank you," Haruhi said.

"For plotting to get you and Tamaki-kun stuck on the _It's a Small World Ride_?" Matsuri asked, tracing back to what she had just said.

"What? No, please don't do that," the cross-dressing Host said. "No, thank you for listening."

"Oh, no worries. What are friends for?"

"Before you came into Kyoya's life, Senpai-"

"Oh, Haruhi, don't. We are friends. That's what friends are for. They listen to one another," she said.

"It's good to have another girl around. One that's not completely fawning over all of the Hosts."

"What? Can't you tell? I'm completely head over heels for Kaoru. It's that auburn hair and those golden eyes," Matsuri gave a soft sigh. "He's dreamy."

"That was disturbing," Haruhi droned as Matsuri laughed.

"In all seriousness, I know and please don't get all mushy on me. Aside from Ami, please don't tell her this, you guys are the only true friends I have ever had. You all just kind of grew on me," Matsuri teased. "And after you grew on me, you all latched on like leeches and never let go."

"Well after you figured me out, we all had to keep a close eye on you. Couldn't have you outing me before I paid my debt." The younger girl was quiet. "Although, I did trust you for the start. You seemed to have good judgment and Senpai trusted you."

Matsuri shrugged. "Well, I am trustworthy and Kyoya doesn't make proclamations of trust easily."

"I know. Which is why we welcomed you with open arms."

"So everything was about Kyoya?" she questioned.

"More or less. We all trust his judgment and we all trust him, even if he is well, you know better than anyone how his is."

Matsuri rolled her eyes. "You know, are we talking about Kyoya and myself or you and Tamaki?" she questioned.

"I believe that they are intertwined."

The Kinjo heiress gave a soft smile. "Well, it would seem that they are." She took her phone away from her ear and placed it on speaker after her phone vibrated against the side of her head. Kyoya's name popped up on her screen and she moved to open the message.

 _How many bags do you have packed?_

 _Ami and I have three each_ , was her sarcastic reply.

 _Matsuri._

"Senpai?"

"Sorry, I got distracted. Kyoya asked what I packed."

"He's concerned about the number of things that the guests may have packed," Haruhi explained.

"I told me I packed three bags."

"His head will explode if you show up with three bags," the Host laughed. "Could you just bring two extra bags, just to mess with him."

"You're terrible."

 _Kinjo Matsuri. You did not pack three bags,_ was Kyoya's reply.

"I think it would be amusing," Haruhi said.

Before she could reply, her phone rang in her hand. A picture of she and Kyoya on the beach. After the Host Club event, she and Kyoya had gone back to his beach house for a day. She figured that she would have to make him take a picture with her, but when she asked he complied with no argument. "Speak of the devil, Haruhi. Can I call you later?" Matsuri asked.

"No, no. I'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye."

The two girls hung up and Matsuri clicked over to Kyoya. "Kinjo Matsuri here."

"You did not pack three bags," he said with no greeting.

"No, I did not. However, the likelihood that Ami did is very high."

Kyoya groaned loudly. "Why must you females be this way? It's just two days."

"Not everyone can meticulously pack a suitcase like you can, Kyoya," Matsuri said, ignoring his comment on females and packing. She knew that he meant no harm by it and because she was sure that more than Ami had packed three suitcases she just let it go. "Perhaps you can send us and email on proper packing."

"I wish I could."

Matsuri moved across the room and into her bathroom, starting her bath water. "It will be okay," she told him, sitting on the ledge of the tub.

"It has to be."

She listened to the sound of Kyoya typing, a sound that had become oddly soothing to her. "What are you typing about?"

"Emailing the bus company," he told her shortly. If Matsuri had learned anything, she knew that when Kyoya spoke as he just had, to let him finish what he was doing and he would resume the conversation after he was done.

While she waited, she removed the clothing that she had been wearing and slipped into the bathtub, sighing as she sank into the hot water. "It's late," she said after a few minutes of laying in the tub, the phone now on speaker on the ledge.

"Well, the business world never sleeps," he told her.

"So you keep saying," she teased. "Ami told me to tell you that she has been my designated seat buddy since elementary school and that nothing is changing."

"Hmm?" Kyoya hummed as if he didn't understand why she was telling him this. "Oh, that works fine. I have to work out some last-minute things with Tamaki."

"You could at least pretend to be disappointed."

Matsuri could almost hear him rolling his eyes at her. "I'll be with you for two days, I'm sure that I will survive a 31-minute bus ride without you."

"You never know. I'm a hard one to be without."

Kyoya chuckled to himself. "That you are."

"So I packed something nice," she started.

"Oh?"

"Yes, because I know you and I know that you have more than likely planned some exciting night outing for us and I will not be caught off guard."

"Has our relationship become so predictable?" Kyoya said feigning outrage.

"No, I just know that you like to dote on me." Matsuri sank a bit lower into her hot bath. "I'll pretend to be surprised, though." He exhaled through his nose loudly and she knew that one corner of his mouth had turned upward in a half smile.

"Suffice it to say, I think that you will be surprised."

She sat up quickly, water splashing out of the tub. "What have you done?"

"I guess you'll have to wait and see won't you, Suri-chan," he said smoothly.

"Kyoya-kun," she said, her tone warning.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Suri-chan," he told her before hanging up.

Matsuri sat, glaring at the phone as the phone returned to its home screen. What did he have up his sleeve this time?

* * *

A/N: So I hate that this is was a filler chapter, but I wanted to separate some of the action. What better way to do that than to have a phone convo? Anyway, the next chapter, which is turning out to be really long because I want all of these things to happen in it, is gonna be fun. What does Kyoya have up his sleeve? Hmmmmm… Let me know what you think, okay? Okay.


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N #1:** Alright, sit tight and get ready for a fun ride! This is a long one, but I promise it's worth it. See you at the end!

* * *

On Friday, the school day seemed to fly by. It seemed like only an hour or so had passed between the first bell and lunch. Matsuri was so surprised when Ami showed up at her desk, tapping her on her shoulder. Ami had been giddy all day, or at least since she and Matsuri had walked into their first-period classroom to find roses on their desks. Ami's white and Matsuri's lavender. Since then, Ami could only talk about the weekend trip; how excited she was and how much fun it was going to be. At first, it was a fun conversation. They talked back and forth about the rides and the amount of ice cream that they would have. However, at this point, there was nothing else to talk about that they hadn't already discussed. Needless to say, when she and Ami sat down for lunch Matsuri was beyond done with the conversation, but she let Ami continue because that's what friends are for.

"Can we get matching Micky Ears? You know embroidered with our names?" Matsuri nodded, chewing on rice. "And take pictures with all the Princesses. I know you like Jasmine and we can take one with Cinderella because I love her." Matsuri nodded again, agreeing without saying anything.

Lunch was the only time that seemed to drag on, mostly because of there being nothing to distract her from Ami's constant babbling. Kyoya and the rest of the club had pulled away to finish some last-minute things for the trip, making sure the rooms were set up and the tickets were in place, things like that. Once she was back in class, listening to lectures, the day flew by. Without her even noticing, the final bell rang and Ami was standing next to her in the hallway as they walked to their lockers.

"Aren't you excited?" Ami said as she stopped at her locker, Matsuri standing next to her as she stuffed her books into the small space and shut it before they moved a little further down the hall to Matsuri's locker.

"I am," she answered, opening her locker and placing each book and folder in its place.

"You don't look it."

Matsuri closed her locker and sighed. "I am," she said again, smiling this time. "Honest."

The two girls walked down the hall towards Music Room #3. Earlier in the day, everyone attending the trip had stored their luggage in the room. During that time, they had their luggage tagged and they were handed a folder which contained: an itinerary, park map, hotel rooms for each person, and a Disney button. Under anyone else's supervision, it would have been complete chaos. However, with her meticulous boyfriend leading it, the process went smoother than it should have.

"Suri-chan!"

Matsuri was greeted by the excited voice of Honey-senpai. She smiled as he flung his arms around her neck and laughed. "Honey-senpai!"

"Matsuri-chan," Mori-senpai greeted with a soft smile.

Honey-senpai removed himself from Matsuri, only to cling to Mori-senpai. "We are going to have the best cake this weekend!"

"I know," she leaned down to whisper into his ear. "I hear that the resort has forty-three kinds of cake."

Honey-senpai's eyes lit up as if she had just told him the secret to the universe. He then looked up to Mori-senpai, who gave a soft shrug. Honey-senpai then looked at Matsuri again. "Thank you," he whispered, all too excited.

"What did you do, Matsuri-chan?" his smooth tenor said as he approached her, already changed out of his school uniform and into a pair of black pants and a button-down shirt. Before she could feign shock or hurt at his accusation, he shook his head. "Don't want to know. You know where your luggage is?" he questioned. Both girls nodded. "Great. If you need anything," he told them before he left.

The two friends made their way to their luggage. Matsuri shouldered a small bag, the one that she had packed her change of clothes in, while Ami knelt and opened her suitcase and started to dig through her bag. After a moment, Ami resurfaced with a change of clothes. Matsuri shook her head, laughing. They then made their way to the storeroom, which was being used as a place to change for the ladies. The room was a frenzy of changing girls and yellow dresses. Matsuri was taken back by the number of half-dressed girls, but she joined them, removing her dress and changing into a pair of jeans, a denim shirt, and a light scarf. Ami, on the other hand, wore a dress with tights.

"Cute," Ami commented as she pinched Matsuri's cheek.

Scrunching her nose, they both left the storeroom, leaving their dresses on the hanger assigned to them, bless Kyoya and his compulsive need for organization, just as Tamaki announced. "The bus is ready to load. Please mind the reserved seating up front for the club."

The rush from the room was intense, leaving Matsuri confused. Twenty-nine girls, Ami included shouting something about going to get them a good seat, ran out of the room as soon as Tamaki finished speaking. In the rush, Matsuri managed to get tripped up.

"Senpai," Hikaru's voice said as he reached out to grab her arm to keep her from falling. "Don't you play tennis?" he questioned.

"Yes."

"You should be more coordinated, shouldn't you?" That was Kaoru's voice.

Matsuri sighed loudly, tired of having this exact line of conversation. "Yes, I should. I should but I'm not."

"Let her fall next time, Hikaru," Kyoya told him, teasing edging into his voice.

"Haha," she said, laughing blandly as she turned to leave the room. "I hope Ami picked a seat far away from all of you."

"You don't," Kaoru said.

"Mean that," Hikaru finished.

They both looked completely pathetic. Amber eyes swimming with unshed crocodile tears as they held one another close, faces pressed together and pouting. Matsuri huffed, rolling her eyes and leaving the room. "I do mean it!"

Of course, Ami had not picked a seat far away from the Hosts. Somehow, she had managed to get the seat behind Haruhi's. Matsuri had started to ask how she pulled off this feat, however upon seeing her and how disheveled she was, she knew that Ami had had to fight for that seat. Ami took the window seat. She wanted to look at the scenery.

Honey- and Mori-senpai got on the bus first sitting across from them, and Haruhi followed them sitting in the seat in front of the two girls. The other boys, Kyoya, Tamaki, and the twins, remained outside of the bus. Haruhi flopped down in her seat and sighed; her eyes closing.

Matsuri poked her head between the seats. "Tired?"

"I never knew that going to Disney would be so stressful," she said leaning her head against the window, opening her eyes to watch the boys as they made sure each piece of luggage was on the bus, thanks to Kyoya's color coding system it was easy. Following that, Tamaki bounded onto the bus, holding Kyoya's clipboard, which left him fuming.

"Rollcall!" he sang, making the girls swoon. Alphabetized by last name, clearly, Kyoya's doing, he called each girl. "Ito-san." Ami gave a cheerful 'here'. "Matsuri-chan," he said soon after he called Ami's name, the amount of familiarity that he used earned her a few angry glares. To that, she responded with a quiet here. Tamaki continued, down the list until the last girl was called. By then, the twins had taken their seats and Kyoya was pushing Tamaki into his window seat and taking his clipboard. "To Disneyland!" Tamaki cried as the bus started to move. His cry was greeted by cheers.

* * *

Tamaki and Kyoya talked the whole ride there. Tamaki would point at something on Kyoya's laptop, getting his fingerprint on the screen, and Kyoya would swat his hand away but continue the conversation. Beside her, Honey- and Mori-senpai, really Honey-senpai, talked about cake. Ami seemed to finally have run out of things to say about Disney and settled into an excited quiet.

"Matsuri-senpai." It was Haruhi's turn to poke her head between the seats.

Matsuri moved from her seat to the one next to Haruhi, earning her her first glance from Kyoya since he got on the bus. "Yes?"

"I'm going to tell him." she whispered.

Matsuri laughed, clapping her hands together, earning her another sideways glance from Kyoya. "When?"

"I think tomorrow night?"

Matsuri clapped again, bringing her hands to her mouth to hide her smile. "Exciting!"

"Do you have something..."

"To wear?" Matsuri finished. "I do! I most certainly do! I actually have something that you would look absolutely adorable in."

"Oh?"

"Yes! I'll bring it to your room, okay?"

Haruhi smiled, relaxing some. "What are you and Senpai doing tonight?"

Matsuri glanced over her shoulder at Kyoya. "Kyoya," she whispered, leaning across the aisle. He hummed, letting her know that he was listening but never turned his attention from the computer on his lap. "Kyoya, do you have something planned?" He looked over at her, very briefly, and shook his head. "You lie." Kyoya shrugged, ending the conversation.

"He's lying," Matsuri told Haruhi. The cross-dressing host smiled. "You know! What is it?"

"I don't know a thing."

Before Matsuri could say anything, Ami placed her against the window. "Look!"

Her cry caused the entire bus to look out of their windows. They were passing a view of the park, complete with a slight view of Cinderella's castle. There were ooh's and ah's and the conversation grew from a dull roar to an excited one. Kyoya leaned forward asking the bus driver for his microphone.

"Ladies," he said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Once we get to the hotel, you will need to check in. Do not worry about your luggage, it will be brought to your room as soon as possible, within fifteen minutes. You are free to roam the resort until 6:30 when you are invited to come to the ballroom for dinner, check your agenda for the location."

With that, he handed the microphone back to the driver and sat in his seat where Tamaki immediately started to bother him. The bus slowed to a stop and the Hosts exited the bus first and then there was a rush for all the ladies to get off.

"Matsuri," Ami squealed. "Matsuri, your boyfriend is the best."

The hotel towered over them. A large building that reflected early 20th century Victorian Era architecture. A sort of cream toned building with a blue roof and what seemed like a million beautiful windows. Matsuri stood in awe. This had to be the coolest place she had seen. Ami grabbed her arm and pulled her into the hotel where it got even better. Inside, there were marble floors and a large staircase full of Ouran girls. Matsuri and Ami joined them and they filtered to the front desk, getting their room keys.

"Kinjo Matsuri and Ito Ami," Matsuri said as she reached the counter, Ami holding her hand so not to get lost in the wave of girls.

"Yes, Kinjo-san and Ito-san," the woman behind the desk said. "Keys." She handed Matsuri one key set and Ami another. Quickly, Matsuri peeked inside hers. One was for her room labeled 6520 and the other for room 6251, Kyoya's room. She snapped it shut and looked at Ami, who was tugging on her hand.

"Thank you!" Matsuri shouted as she stumbled to catch up with her best friend.

"This is fantastic!" Ami said as she and Matsuri walked down the hall.

"It is nice."

They stopped in front of room 6250. Matsuri let Ami swipe the key and open the door. The inside of the room was just as beautiful. Upon entering, there was a vanity and to the left the shower room and the right the toilet. Then they entered the sleeping area. The creme color continued here with the chairs by the window as pinkish accents. Ami moved to the window leaning on it.

"Look at the view!"

Matsuri started to, however, something caught her attention. A navy dress laying across one of the beds and a hand-written note: _Meet me in the lobby at 6. - K_. Matsuri lifted the dress by the hanger. A V-neck on the front and back and lace-trimmed hemline. Looking down, she saw a pair of nude heels. At some point, Ami's approached her. Once Matsuri realized that she had, she handed her the note.

"Your boyfriend?"

Matsuri nodded biting her lip. "Yes, Kyoya."

She picked up her phone and dialed his number. "Is it to your liking?" he questioned upon answering.

"Very much so," she replied.

"See you at six, Matsuri-chan," he said, the formality his used on her name, let her know that he was still dealing with something or other.

"You certainly will."

* * *

Ami had insisted that she do Matsuri's hair and makeup and Matsuri agreed because she really had no choice. Ami promised to not do anything dramatic with her makeup, just something she called a natural glow using copper colors. The finished product was to her liking. Her hair went into a simple side braid.

"Kyoya-kun," Ami started as Matsuri slipped her foot into a shoe, "he really likes you, ne?"

"I like to think so," she replied, smiling.

"You really love him, don't you?" Ami pushed, laying across her bed.

"I do."

"Does he really love you?"

Matsuri thought back to the day at the garden. "Yes. Remember, I told you he told me he did?"

Ami rolled over onto her back, hugging a pillow and groaning. "I want a Kyoya."

"Huh?"

"He dotes on you and he's kind to you, and he's never looked at a girl the way he looks at you. It's like you're the only person that's ever mattered to him. You know, he's just so not Kyoya-kun when he's with you. I don't know, maybe I'm being silly."

"You are," she replied, laughing. "I'll see you later."

"Don't rush back on my accord," Ami said, holding up Matsuri's two room keys. The raven-haired girl blushed deeply. "I won't tell."

Matsuri snatched the key cards back and stormed out of the room, leaving Ami laughing on her bed.

* * *

 _6:00._

Kinjo Matsuri stepped off the elevator and saw Kyoya, clad in dress pants and a grey button-down with his signature lavender rose between his fingers. He held his hand out to her as she approached and twirling her to admire her in her dress. "You like it?" he asked as he turned her to face him again, tucking the rose into her braid.

"Yes," she replied. "I don't like that you lied to me," she said reaching up to flatten his collar.

"No lying involved." His fingers laced with hers as they left the hotel. "Options," he said, "monorail or car?"

"Monorail," she answered almost immediately.

They walked from the hotel to the monorail, fingers laced together, in a comfortable silence. Kyoya had been doing Host Club things since the day started and it was only right that he have a few moments to regroup and gather his thoughts. Matsuri took the time to take in her surrounding and look around. The hotel was truly beautiful.

"No questions as to where I'm taking you?" he asked as they sat down in two seats on the monorail. She crossed her legs and looked up at him, honey brown eyes curious. "None?" he said again as the monorail started to move.

"I've found it's easier to just go with you. You've never taken me anywhere I didn't want to be," she answered.

"That much trust in me?" he mused.

"You've never taken me somewhere I had no desire to be," she told him again.

"I could be kidnapping you."

"You are by far the most handsome kidnapper I have ever encountered. Also, if you were a kidnapper, I wouldn't be too worried."

"Why is that?" Kyoya asked, curiously.

"I have this boyfriend, you know? This boyfriend seems to really like me and if I went missing, I like to think, that his world would stop and he would do whatever it took to get me back."

Kyoya mulled over what she said. "Well, it is true I would do whatever I needed to get you back, business never stops," he teased.

"You hateful thing," she said elbowing him.

"Realist," he reminded her. She rolled her eyes. "What were you and Haruhi talking about?"

"Nothing."

"Now who is lying?"

"Not me."

The monorail shifted to a stop and Kyoya stood, holding his hand out to help her up. Placing her small hand in his, she allowed him to assist her in standing.

The monorail had taken them across to Tokyo DisneySea; the park that neighbored Tokyo Disneyland. She had paid it little attention when they had arrived, spotting it from the corner of the window in her bedroom. However, it now had her full attention. A theme park on a harbor. A sea themed Disney Park. Her brown eyes panned across the scene before her, taking in the sights, the sounds, and the lights.

"Mount Prometheus," Kyoya said gesturing towards the large mountain in the background watching as her eyes paused on it.

"Do you know everything about everything?" Matsuri questioned. Kyoya shrugged, a smug smile on his lips.

Kyoya led her away before she could say anything else. They moved past the ticket counter as if it were not there and to the gate, where Kyoya showed two tickets to the man. The worker seemed taken back, but he admitted them both with a bow.

"Benvenuto a Mediterranean Harbor," Kyoya said as they walked. The area was modeled after the Italian city of Venice. While she had never been to the city she figured that it would look like this; the colors on the buildings and the architecture. Even down to the...

"Gondola!" Matsuri said, pulling away from Kyoya to lean on a railing overlooking a river with a gondola floating on it. "Kyoya, can we-" To stop her speaking, he held two tickets for a gondola ride up in front of her. "Do you think of everything?"

"I like to think that I know you well enough to know that you would want to get on the gondola," he told her, pulling her away from the railing.

"You do," she said. "Think of everything and know me well."

"Dinner and then the gondola," he told her as he felt her pulling away from him and towards the entrance to the gondola ride.

Matsuri pouted.

* * *

When they reached the restaurant, they were led to a private table that overlooked the river where she could see the gondolas floating by. Wine was brought to the table poured by a young girl who was dazzled by Kyoya, even though he said nothing to her. The wine girl had not returned after that; instead, a younger boy came to take their food order. An order of Mediterranean Chicken and one of Tuscan Skillet chicken. The food was superb; she hadn't expected anything different from a dinner with Kyoya. Dinner with him was always amazing. The conversation was light. At one point, Kyoya's phone rang; Tamaki letting him know that dinner had hit a hitch and Kyoya instructed him on how to handle it and to text him and let him know how it panned out but to not call him unless necessary. Which resulted in her teasing him about ditching his responsibilities as Vice President as she started on her Baklava.

After dinner, they took the gondola ride that Kyoya had promised. Instead of having a gondola full of other park goers, Kyoya had managed to get a private one for the two of them. The gondolier was dressed in a black and white striped shirt with a red ascot and red sash around his waist. He said his name was Marco and he was happy to serve as their gondolier. As they pushed away from the dock, Marco started to sing in Italian.

"Hmm, you spoil me," Matsuri said, leaning against Kyoya's side. He arched an eyebrow, looking down at her. "However will you top this?" she teased. "I know. Can you get me a gondolier hat?"

"Marco, può la giovane donna indossare il cappello?" Kyoya questioned. (Can the young lady wear your hat?)

"Showoff," Matsuri mumbled under her breath at Kyoya's easy use of the Italian language.

"Sì," Marco answered. He stopped rowing and turned to them and with a bow he placed the hat on Matsuri's head.

"Do you have the world under your thumb?" she questioned, looking at him from under the brim of the hat.

Kyoya adjusted the hat so that he could see her honey toned eyes. "Anything is possible with the right connections."

"Bella signora, ti piacerebbe esprimere un desiderio?" Marco questioned gesturing to the water. (Pretty lady, would you like to make a wish?)

"Will you think I'm silly?" she questioned to Kyoya smiling. Instead of answering, he reached into his pocket and presented her with a coin. "You're still going to make fun of me, aren't you?"

"Perhaps," he shrugged. Matsuri leaned across him, Kyoya's hand on her waist to secure her, with the coin on the thumb of her closed fist, and flipped it into the water. "What did you wish for?"

"I can't tell you, then it won't come true."

"I will make fun of you for that."

Matsuri nudged him roughly with the shoulder closest to him as she settled back into her previous space against his side. Marco's singing covered the noise of the park. Despite the bright park lights, the stars in the night sky were still visible.

"Leo minor," Matsuri said, pointing up towards the sky, her slender finger tracing between the stars.

Kyoya turned his gaze upward following her finger. "Impressive." He took her finger and brought it to the left, tracing a zigzag line. "Lynx."

"I guess it would be unfair of me to point out Ursa Major?" she questioned.

"You would lose points from me, yes."

She scrunched her nose and rolled her eyes, dropping her hand to her lap pouting. Kyoya adjusted the brim of the straw hat again and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips, tasting the dill sauce from dinner still on her lips.

"Make a wish," she told him as she reached across into his pocket and produced a coin.

"What for?"

"Do it!" she pushed as she placed his coin into his hand. Kyoya sighed, taking the coin from her and flipping it into the water around him. "What did you wish for?"

"I believe you said that if I told you, it won't come true."

* * *

The gondola ride ended and when Matsuri tried to hand the straw hat back to the gondolier, he told her to keep it. As she bowed to him in thanks, Kyoya offered the man a healthy tip. On the way out of the park, she pulled away from Kyoya to a sweets shop, pressing her nose to the window. Sighing, Kyoya followed her, placing his card on the counter and telling her to get whatever she wanted. In the end, she ended up with a vanilla ice cream cone when they left the shop. By the time, they got to the monorail, she had finished the ice cream and the cone. Glancing at the clock by the monorail, she saw that it was _9:15_. They'd been gone for three hours. Kyoya, however, didn't seem to be bothered by it.

"This wasn't your surprise," he told her.

"No?"

He tucked her hair behind her ear. "No. Were you surprised?"

"Pleasantly."

The ride back to the hotel was quick. It seemed that as soon as she got comfortable, they were stopping and they were getting off the train. The hotel towered over them as they approached, a light conversation going between them as they entered the hotel and the elevator. Kyoya's hands remained folded behind his back the whole time.

Sixth floor.

Kyoya took his hands from behind his back, placing one hand under her chin. "Thank you for coming with me."

"It was my pleasure, as always."

The corners of his lips turned up. He leaned in to place a lingering, much less chaste, kiss on her lips. "Goodnight, Suri." He told her, folding his hands behind his back again.

"Goodnight," she replied, her lips tingling.

She turned away from him walking down the hall towards her bedroom. She pulled a key card from the pocket of her dress and stopped outside of her door, swiping it.

"Where have you been, young lady?" Ami's voice asked as she ran towards the door already dressed in her pajamas and holding a piece of chocolate. "What is that on your head? Where did you go?"

Matsuri laughed, tossing the gondolier hat on her bed. "Let me shower, first okay?"

* * *

The two girls had talked for what seemed like hours. Ami laying in her own bed as Matsuri gave her a play-by-play of her night. Then with Matsuri in bed, propped up on her pillows, Ami gave a play-by-play of her own night. Ami had always been a storyteller, giving each character in the story a voice and actions, a very dramatic person. Matsuri received a very dramatic description of the dinner with the hosts where Honey had tried to eat all the cake.

Eventually, Ami dozed off and Matsuri tried to follow her lead. However, sleep didn't find her. Instead, she stayed awake, watching the park lights twinkling in the distance. Her honey-toned eyes turned to the digital clock on the table between the two beds: _11:15_. She traced her index finger over her lips, before sitting up. Sighing, she pushed the thick blankets off her body and swung her feet onto the floor. Quietly, she grabbed her keys and left the room.

Matsuri stopped briefly in front of a mirror and ran her fingers through her hair to remove any tangles, before quietly making her way down the hall. Even though the hall was empty, she felt as if she were being watched.

6251.

Matsuri hovered his key over the lock and debated. Should she knock? That was the polite thing, right? But then again, he did give her a key and said that she could come and go as she pleased. Carefully, she ran the card through the lock and exhaled quietly as the lock clicked. Not wanting to be seen, she pushed the door open and closed it behind her. His room was set up just like hers. She followed the blue toned light to the desk in the room.

"Kyoya."

The boy in question looked away from his computer screen and over his shoulder towards her. "Matsuri," he greeted, turning on the bedside light and closing his laptop in one motion.

As he stood, Matsuri noted that he had unbuttoned the top two buttons on his dress shirt and untucked it and somehow, he still looked perfectly put together. She, on the other hand, had been rolling in bed, laughing with Ami, in her pajamas with her hair in a ponytail. She also noted that his hands were once again, folded behind his back.

"Matsuri?"

Her brown eyes fell on the clock, _11:30_.

"Twenty minutes," she told him carefully.

"Hmm?" he replied, his eyebrow arched. Matsuri watched him for a moment waiting for the realization to hit him. When it did, Kyoya unfolded his hands from behind his back as he took a step towards her, pulling her towards him. His hands settling on the curves of her hips. "Thirty," he shot back, lips brushing against hers.

Before she could respond, he pressed his lips to hers; his grip tightening on her waist. As her lips moved against his, her palms pressed to his chest, fingers trailing down the exposed skin until they caught against the fastened buttons. She felt his cool touch against her warm flesh as his hands slipped under her pajama top. In her surprise, she caught his bottom lips between her teeth, causing him to pull her closer.

Kyoya broke their kiss as her fingers started to undo the buttons on his shirt. Her warm touch burning his naturally cool skin, the sensation eliciting a soft groan from his lips. He caught her lips again before pulling at the hem of her shirt fingers trailing up her side. Dropping her shirt on the floor, he pulled her to the bed with him. Sitting on the edge, he brought her with him, one of her legs on each side of his body. She pushed off his dress shirt, fingers trailing along the lean muscles of his torso.

She noted the time, _11:45_. Funny how time seemed to fly when she was with Kyoya.

He placed a kiss on her collarbone, working his way from there to the soft skin of her neck, then back to her lips. Her fingers twisted in his dark hair as he did. His fingers caught a sensitive spot on her side and she broke their kiss, laughing.

Kyoya lifted his darkening gaze up to hers. "You're ticklish?" his voice husky.

She tried to stop laughing, but he ran his fingers over the spot again, testing his theory, and a new wave of laughter washed over her. To avoid his touch, she rolled onto the bed and placed a pillow between them.

"Stop it," she laughed.

Kyoya rolled onto his side and pulled the pillow from her. "Fine. I surrender." Matsuri watched him in the dim light. "Hmm?" he hummed as he pulled her towards him, her leg on top of his. He rolled back on to his back pulling her on top of him.

"Nothing." Kyoya looked over at the clock and half-frowned. Matsuri smiled. "Another 20."

"Thirty," he countered again, his lips finding hers and his hands on the elastic of her pajama bottoms.

* * *

 _1:15_

"What could you possibly be doing, Kyoya?" Matsuri yawned, glancing over at him.

Kyoya looked over at her from the desk. The corners of his lips turned upward at her, rolled in the sheets on _his_ bed, in _his_ shirt, holding a cup of jasmine tea, and reading a book she'd pulled from _his_ bag. Although, she looked a little more like she was falling asleep than reading.

"What are you smiling at?" she questioned.

"Five minutes," he told her before turning back to the computer. "I'm about to buy out a company."

Matsuri placed her cup on the table and rolled out of bed, ditching the blanket and appearing behind him, with her chin on his shoulder. Kyoya watched her from the corner of his eye, the milky skin of her toned legs visible, until she was out of his peripheral vision.

The screen of his laptop was full of things that she only half understood. Kyoya was briefly distracted by the warmth of her skin on his, her breath on his cheek, but he brought his attention back to the screen, focusing on the numbers.

"Bidding war?" she asked, her voice quiet and small.

"Mmm," he nodded, typing 999,999 yen into a box at the bottom of the screen and hitting send. _999,999 - KO_. The next number was an even million by IT. The next was 500,000 more. Kyoya held his offer watching the screen carefully, for the timing of the offers. The slower the offers appeared the more hesitant the bidders were. Kyoya offered another bid 500,000 higher than the last, two million. The next bid came slower. 20,000 higher from UK. "Hmm," Kyoya hummed, leaning back against her.

"Do ten more," she suggested, biting back a yawn.

"Ten?" Kyoya looked at the screen watching the bid from UK holding. He was hesitant but eventually agreed. 2,030,000 yen - KO. The offer held… and held… and held.

"You get it?"

"Yes," he exhaled, watching the last offer, his offer, highlighted in yellow.

Matsuri reached over and closed his laptop, kissing the corner of his mouth as she did. "Congratulations." She flopped back on the bed, grabbing her cup of tea and cradling it in one hand and patting the bed with the other. Kyoya sat next to her dressed in his pajama bottoms.

"Going back to your room?" he asked taking off his glasses and placing them on the table.

"Twenty more minutes," she told him, burrowing into the sheets with a yawn.

Kyoya took her cup from her hands, placing it on the table as well. Matsuri rolled onto her side, her head against Kyoya's chest. Her body radiated an unfamiliar warmth. However, it was far from uncomfortable. It was soothing in fact. They stayed that way, in the dimly lit room, her hand resting against his chest.

"Kyoya," she muttered quietly, somewhere between sleep and awake.

"Yes?" he answered as he reached over turning off the light.

"Is it… easier for you now?" she questioned.

Kyoya cast a look of confusion down towards her. Is it... Oh. He thought back to the breezeway, _this isn't easy for me_. That seemed like many years ago. By the time, he decided to answer her, he could hear her soft breathing and knew she'd dozed off. Kyoya rolled his eyes. How dare she asked him something and then fall asleep. Of course, he wasn't upset with her. She'd done it many times on the phone with him, because she didn't want to hang up. He exhaled, shifting his position, carefully so not to wake her. His movement only caused her to nuzzle closer to him. With the warmth of her body against him, sleep found him.

* * *

 **A/N #2** : Oh my gosh it's over! It's like 5,500 words and like 13 pages! I couldn't figure out how to end it and then I wanted all the things to happen and I couldn't stop. But it's a good chapter, yeah? Lots of Kysuri fluff and they're adorable okay? Let me know what you think. I love to hear from you all.


	31. Chapter 31

_Buzz. Buzz._

An alarm?

Matsuri rolled over, burrowing her face into what she thought was the fabric of her bed. Instead, she was greeted by something harder and a cooler, she knitted her eyebrows together and scrunched her nose. The unfamiliar object caught her attention again, moving this time in a rhythmic rise and fall. Matsuri fought opening her eyes but lost. Her honey eyes scanned the room as she sat up, her dark hair falling over her shoulder as she did.

"Oh god!" she said, realizing that instead of going to her room like she had planned she'd spent the night in Kyoya's room. The realization hitting her making her forget that an alarm had woken her up.

Ami was going to have a complete field day with this. She was never going to let her live this down. Ever.

Matsuri groaned, laying back down and rolling to bury her face in Kyoya's side. He shifted in his sleep as she did, his arm falling around her waist.

"Kyoya," Matsuri said quietly. She had heard the stories of how unpleasant, to put it nicely, Kyoya was upon being woken up. So, she was sure to be careful with him. "Kyoya."

A hum of acknowledgment rumbled somewhere deep in his chest.

"The alarm."

It took a moment; the alarm's buzzing had gotten louder and more obnoxious in the process before Kyoya realized that the alarm was going off. He reached over and turned it off before his arm settled back over her waist. It was odd as to how this pseudo-conversation happened so easily as if they had it a million times before.

Kyoya inhaled deeply, the scent of _her_ filling his nose. "Matsuri," he mumbled. She nodded against his chest. Kyoya was quiet for a while. She hadn't really woken him up, the alarm had done that, he'd tried to filter the sound out and was successful until _she_ called him. However, she was the person that was in the room and generally the person in the room got the brunt of his morning aggression. However, as he tried to filter it away, he realized that there wasn't a lot of it. He was irritated about having to wake up so early, the clock read something like 6:20 when he turned it off. However, that general aggression wasn't there. "You've gotten yourself into quite the situation, haven't you?" he said, his voice was thick from sleep.

Matsuri attempted to roll away from him, but he held on to her. "You're in it too," she told him.

"True." Kyoya was quiet for a moment, enjoying the feeling of her warmth against him. "How much do you want to get out of this unnoticed?" he questioned, trying to filter the annoyance of being awake at 6:30 out of his voice.

"It won't be unnoticed. Ami," she said.

"Is she up at 6:30?" he asked. His fingers caught the hem of the shirt she was wearing, _his_ shirt.

"No."

"The question from me still stands."

"What do you have in mind?"

Kyoya sighed, forcing himself to sit up and leave the warmth of the bed, he grabbed his phone. "I don't mind if you walk around like that." he gestured to her uncovered legs, seeing as she'd only been wearing a shirt, "but if you want to leave, you may want to get dressed." Matsuri gaped at him. Was he in a pleasant mood this early? In response, Matsuri through the shirt at him. "Haruhi," he said. "Yes. I am. Can you come here, please?"

* * *

"Senpai." A more appropriately dressed Kyoya opened the door and pulled Haruhi into the room. Haruhi looked less than surprised to see Matsuri sitting cross-legged on Kyoya's bed. "Matsuri-senpai."

"Haruhi."

"I'm glad we've all met. I need you to escort her down to her room," he said. "If you see anyone, tell them that you went to check on breakfast and Suri was getting an early morning cup of tea; she's rooming with Ami and she didn't want to order room service because it could wake her up. You, as a Host, stayed with her and are now escorting her to her room."

Both girls gaped at him. Haruhi because Kyoya wasn't acting cranky or biting their heads off or anything like he usually did. He was in quite a good mood. Matsuri, because he had come up with all of that in a matter of minutes, but then again she really shouldn't have been. It was Kyoya after all.

"Go," he told them both.

Matsuri scrambled up and to Haruhi. She glanced over her shoulder at Kyoya as Haruhi pulled her out of the room quickly before she could say anything to Kyoya.

"Matsuri-senpai..."

"Hmm?" she answered cautiously.

"I told him yesterday after dinner."

Matsuri stopped dead in her tracks. "WHAT!?" Haruhi shushed her. "What? What did he say?" Matsuri bounced on her toes, excited.

Haruhi's face twisted. "He said, 'I'm in love with me too'."

Matsuri blinked rapidly. "That idiot, Tamaki. He's a complete fool. I swear he wouldn't know..."

"It's okay, Senpai."

"Tamaki is a moron. I don't even know what to do with him," she continued. "He's ridiculous." Matsuri rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry, Haruhi. I really am."

"Thank you," she said with a shrug. "I think that America is looking pretty good right now."

"You're not the type to run," Matsuri told her as they approached her door. "If you need anything, you know where to find me."

"Does that mean in Kyoya-senpai's room or just with him?" Haruhi teased.

The raven-haired girl blushed a hot red and swiped her key in the door, rolling her eyes. She pushed the door open quietly and slowly, to see the room was still dark and Ami was nowhere to be seen. Matsuri sighed and waved good-bye to her Host escort. She walked into the room and jumped on Ami's bed, jostling her.

"Matsuri, get away," she mumbled.

"You'll miss breakfast with Tamaki-kun if you stay asleep," the dark-haired girl said. "Come on!"

"Tamaki-kun!" Ami said, sitting upright. "What should I wear?"

"Clothes?" Matsuri suggested, completely relieved that Ami had not noticed her absence during the night.

"What are you wearing?" Ami said, scoffing at her friend's suggestion.

"Um, I have some maroon jeggings and like a cremeish crop top," Matsuri said carefully watching Ami's face to see if she would approve of her choice. Ami pulled a face. "What?" She'd tried to pack something a little more fun for the trip.

"We packed the same outfit," Ami laughed.

"We can take pictures," she said.

Ami hugged her, knowing how much Matsuri did not like to match. She thought it was silly. However, for Ami, she would match for the day and for cute pictures. Because what are best friends for if not to match clothes with?

"Oh, Matsuri!" Ami called as she poked her head out of the bathroom. The girl in question met her gaze. "Check the front pocket of my suitcase." Matsuri moved across the room and opened her friend's suitcase. She pulled a small necklace from it, a sterling silver origami fish on a chain. "I know you like to keep it hush and all, so I haven't told anyone, but happy birthday."

Matsuri blinked several times taking in the fact that Ami had gotten her this necklace. She had never been one for huge celebrations for her birthday, but Ami had always managed to get her something small and get it to her without much complaint. "Ami."

"I won't take it back. You love it and you're welcome."

"I know that. I do and thank you very much," Matsuri said bowing her head to her friend as she disappeared into the bathroom. Matsuri smiled andclipped the necklace around her neck.

* * *

After breakfast, each Host went to a designated location so that the guests could meet with them to go to the park. Tamaki was in the main lobby, the twins were near the front desk, Honey- and Mori-senpai were near the front door Haruhi went to the left of the staircase, and somehow as far away from Tamaki, and Kyoya was near Tamaki.

"Would you be terribly upset if I went with Tamaki?" Matsuri asked Kyoya playfully.

Ami appeared next to Matsuri, matching her in every aspect of the outfit even their hair was the same. Kyoya looked between the two girls and Ami handed him her phone. "Take a picture of us, Kyoya-kun?"

Kyoya obliged. Ami grabbed her friend pulling her close and laughing. "Smile, Matsuri!" The raven-haired girl laughed. "Did you get a good one, Kyoya-kun?"

"I believe so."

Ami and Matsuri looked through the photos, he'd taken several. Even though he never once counted or warned them that he was taking a picture, they were all wonderful.

"Candid pictures capture more of the memory, no?" Kyoya asked.

"Thank you, Kyoya-kun!" Ami exclaimed laughing. "You're adorable, Matsuri!"

Tamaki moved to the middle of the room. "Ladies, you have all be given a ticket and a Fast Past. You can have your choice of hosts," he said gesturing to the room. "Princesses, your Disneyland day starts now!"

Before Tamaki could turn to his group, they charged at him pulling him down the stairs as they encircled him. The mob of girls then moved down the stairs and out of the door, leaving Kyoya and Matsuri standing alone. Matsuri's eyebrow arched, amused at the speed at which Tamaki's group and gotten him out of the door. She then turned her attention to the space around them, seeing that she was the only person that was standing with Kyoya.

"No one wants to be hosted by the Shadow King?" she teased.

"Perhaps no one wants to have to fight you for my attention," he shot back as they started walking. Matsuri rolled her eyes, falling into step with him. However, she found herself thinking that it wouldn't be much of a fight for his attention. He did tend to favor her in every conversational situation. "Or perhaps, they decided to respect you and your relationship with the Shadow King," he shrugged.

"Ah," she said, a tone of playful realization in her voice. "Well," she continued looping her arm around his and leaning on him as they walked. "Are you going to Host me, Kyoya-kun?"

Kyoya glanced down at her. "You want to be Hosted?" he questioned.

"You Host me all the time at the school."

Kyoya stopped suddenly, Matsuri stumbled backward as he did. "I do not."

"Yes, at the club."

"No." Kyoya lowered his eyebrows. "The one time I would have hosted you, you told me that you didn't want to distract me from doing the budget and then asked if I preferred not to host." Matsuri laughed, pulling on his arm and forcing him to walk. "I have never hosted you."

He had never hosted her. The first time, like he said, she didn't let him. Instead of the shameless flirting and surface level conversation that he was used to, the first thing that she really said to him was if he preferred not to host. She had caught him off guard by seeing through his persona.

Matsuri looked over at him, smiling. "Would you like to?"

"No."

His answer was immediate. Hosting, to him, was a job. For him, there was no emotional attachment or an attachment at all. There was nothing there for him, but the money. Matsuri, on the other hand, was the opposite of that.

"Question: what are you doing when you and I are together during club functions?"

"Talking to my girlfriend," he said as if it were clearly the most obvious thing.

"Oh," she answered as they walked up to the park gates.

* * *

Ami found them on Main Street, attaching herself to Matsuri's arm and pulling her into one of the shops. Matsuri's slender hand grasped onto Kyoya's before Ami could separate them too much. She could just make out what Ami was saying as she pulled her into the shop. One full of Mickey Mouse Ears.

"We have to pick!" Ami cheered.

Matsuri was slightly overwhelmed by the number of different ears. There were the classic ears and then there were ones with patterns. Ones with veils and tuxedo bow ties, ones with little graduation caps on them, ones that looked like a melting popsicle. The mouse ears covered every surface in the store, and they were all different. Beside her, Ami bounced on her toes, excited.

"Ami," she started, looking around not really knowing where to begin. "Oh, do you want to be a princess?" she questioned, gesturing to the ear hats with tiaras on them. The hat was a simple white with white ears and a cute tiara in the middle.

"This is why we are friends!" Ami squealed as she picked up two ear hats. "They are adorable," she gushed, before pulling Matsuri towards the counter. "Can you embroider our names on these?" The young girl behind the counter looked up at Ami and nodded, she reached for the hats and froze, her gaze focused somewhere over their heads. Matsuri looked over her own shoulder following the girls gaze right to Kyoya, who was standing with his phone held to his ear with one hand and rubbing the bridge of his nose with the other. Probably talking to Tamaki from the expression on his face.

"Handsome, ne?" Matsuri questioned, pulling the girl from her gazing at Kyoya. The girl blushed as she pulled a notepad from the drawer and took down their names from Ami _: Princess Ami and Princess Matsuri_ in pink thread.

Kyoya approached them, still rubbing the bridge of his nose and pulling one of his cards from his wallet, placing it on the counter as the girl came back with their hats. She looked at Kyoya blushing as she placed the ear hats down. Ami snatched hers up, before it even touched the counter, and placed it on her head and then because Matsuri wasn't moving quickly enough, she did the same for her. "Are you done?" Kyoya asked. Ami had already started filming her hat on her Snapchat and trying to get Matsuri in on it. "Just the ears," he told the girl behind the counter. "Suri-chan," he said catching her hand. Matsuri looked over at him and he adjusted her ears before signing the receipt. "Are you ready?"

"Cinderella's castle pictures!" Ami announced as she continued to pull Matsuri out of the store.

"Thank you!" Matsuri shouted to the young girl behind the counter and to Kyoya, who with a deep sigh and hands in his pockets, followed them.

Ami had staked claim over a spot in the middle of the Main Street, looking at the castle and waiting, impatiently, for Kyoya to find them. Once he did, she handed Matsuri her phone and pushed her in his direction.

"Ami would like you to take a series of adorable pictures of us in our ear hats and then she said that she will leave us alone," Matsuri said, handing him the phone with a smile. "She's my best friend, remember that," she added as she walked back to Ami, who had managed to clear a rather large space for them to take pictures in.

"Just start taking pictures," Ami shouted. Kyoya, now feeling like a servant, obeyed, snapping a few candid pictures of the girls and then waiting for them to pose. "You have the patience of a saint," Ami told Kyoya after what seemed like a thousand poses. "This one!" Ami pulled Matsuri close and showed her a photo of her on Matsuri's back and them both laughing. "You really are good at this," she told Kyoya again, before pocketing the device. "Tamaki-kun?"

"By the castle," Kyoya supplied.

"See you at lunch!" she said as she bounced off into the crowd.

"She's my best friend," Matsuri reminded him with a laugh after seeing the expression on his face.

* * *

She didn't think that she was going to be able to do it. However, by some stroke of luck she had. She had managed to get Ootori Kyoya, the third born Ootori, the Shadow King himself to get on Space Mountain.

"You enjoyed it," she told him, running her fingers through her dark hair. She turned her bright gaze up to Kyoya, who was all poise as they walked out of the rides store. Her slender fingers brushed a few strands of his hair back into place as they walked. "I know you did." The corners of Kyoya's lips turned upward ever so slightly. "You did!"

Kyoya looked down at his watch instead of responding to her question. She stopped to look at a park map and he pulled his phone from his pocket. From the corner of his eye, he watched her. Her slender finger winding down the paths of the map trying to plan out where to go next. "We are going here," he told her, taking her hand and placing it on Cinderella's castle. The sun's rays warming her skin, sending a pleasant sensation through his body.

"To the castle?" she questioned, gazing up at him as he put his phone into his pocket. He nodded. "What's at the castle?" she questioned. He didn't answer her, just started walking down the pathway with his hands behind his back. Matsuri laughed. "Kyoya!" He stopped briefly, long enough for her to catch up with him before continuing. "What's at the castle?" she asked again.

Kyoya pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Perhaps you'll see when you get there."

"Kyoya," she laughed looking up at him. He looked down at her, his grey eyes holding a glint of amused irritation. "Can I have a hint, Kyoya-kun?" she asked, batting her eyelashes at him.

"You may not."

* * *

Matsuri spent the walk to the castle, trying to get Kyoya to give her a hint. With her fingers laced with his, in a rare act of public physical affection on Kyoya's part, she had attached herself to him. Her voice asked for hints and Kyoya ignored her, hoping that she would wear herself ragged. Eventually, she did, falling into a quiet next to him, either out of ways to ask for a hit or trying to figure out what else she could do to make him tell her, although not quite as soon as he would have expected. They were approaching the front of the castle as she did. Matsuri remained quiet, something he was thankful for, as they walked on the pathway that went through the castle.

However, instead of following it to the other side, Kyoya pulled her towards a door where a staff member was stationed. Smoothly, he presented something from his pocket, Matsuri couldn't quite make it out. However, this park worker had the same reaction as the boy at the gate from the night before. He opened the door, bowing deeply and Kyoya led her inside.

"We're inside the Castle?" she questioned as if she needed clarification.

Another worker guided them to an elevator before Kyoya could speak. Although, from the look on his face she knew that she probably wasn't going to receive the answer that she wanted or one at all.

"Inside Cinderella's castle?" Matsuri asked again as the doors of the elevator slid shut and started to ascend.

Kyoya nodded. "Yes."

Matsuri looked over at him and then around her as the elevator continued up, taking in the patterns on the walls. She was quiet for the rest of the ride, trying to figure out why they would be in the castle.

"What conclusion have you come to?" Kyoya asked as the machine stopped moving and the doors started to open.

"I'm stumped," she admitted.

When she looked over at him, Kyoya had produced a Disney themed autograph book and Micky Mouse Ear pen from somewhere. He handed it to her as the doors opened fully.

The room the elevator opened on was called Cinderella's Fairytale Hall. She knew that from the plaque over the door. However, it wasn't the lavish hall that caught her attention. The room was full of Disney characters all waving to her.

"I hear you like to keep it quiet," he started as Matsuri smile grew, "so I hope this is quiet enough for you. Happy Birthday."

"Is this my surprise?" she asked, bouncing on her toes out of pure excitement.

Kyoya shrugged. "Yes. The whole weekend is your birthday surprise, of sorts."

Laughing, she wrapped her arms around his neck pressing a brief kiss on his lips. "Thank you!"

Caught off guard by her sudden display of affection, he simply gestured to the characters in the room all waiting for her. Still laughing, she moved away from him and fingers briefly catching with his. He watched her moving away, raven hair cascading down her back even in the ponytail it was in. The corners of his lips turned up ever so slightly, as he did what he knew best and disappeared into the shadows of the room; watching her bright smile and glowing eyes.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hi! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. This is part one of two for Day two at Disney for the Club. Honestly, this chapter and probably the rest of the chapters in the Disney arc are Kysuri fluff. Anyways, hope you enjoyed the fluff. Let me know what you think.

 **~ Nikki**


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